



Book 'C'^X- 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



w 




EDWARD SHEPHERD CREASY. 

Photogravure from a drawing made for this work. 



Decisive Battles of 
the World 



By 



Edward Shepherd Creasy 



With additional chapters on 
Gettysburg and Sedan 



Illustrated 





New York 

D. Appleton and Company 

1898 

1st COPY, 
1893. 
1st COPY, 
1893. 




TWO COPIES RECEIVED. 



Copyright, 1898, 
By D. APPLETON AND COMPANY. 



CREASY'S "DECISIVE BATTLES" 



PROFESSOR CREASY remarks that " it is probable that 
no two historical inquirers would entirely agree in their 
lists of the decisive battles of the world." He must 
have written this from modesty, rather than from any lack 
of mastery of the subject ; for his own list has hardly been 
questioned, and his book became a standard almost from its 
publication, reaching a ninth edition within six years. This 
was because the subject, put in that form, was new, and 
because he did not begin his work till he had formulated a 
correct and defensible definition of what should be considered 
a decisive battle. This is clearly set forth in his preface, 
which so admirably discusses the question that little in the 
way of criticism remains to be said. 

To an American reader, one of the most gratifying things 
in this book is the fact that its author, while acknowledging 
that " the war which rent away the North American colonies 
from England is, of all subjects in history, the most painful 
for an Englishman to dwell on," shows a most intelligent 
and generous appreciation of the greatness and probable 
destiny of our Republic. This has not been the wont of 
British writers. One of their naval historians gives more 
space to the single action of the Chesapeake and the Shannon 
than to all the other actions in the war of 1812 — many of 
the others being brilliant American victories. Perhaps it is 
too much to expect every European author who treats of 
American affairs to display the knowledge and fairness of 
De Tocqueville, Bryce, and Goldwin Smith; but Professor 
Creasy does so in his chapter on " The Victory of the Ameri- 
cans at Saratoga." 

Since the original publication of the book, two great battles 
have been added to the world's decisive conflicts, — Gettys- 



IV CREASY'S "DECISIVE BATTLES" 

burg and Sedan, — and it is to be regretted that the author 
did not discuss them in his latest edition. As he neglected 
to do so, two chapters devoted to these battles have been 
specially written for this edition by American authors. 

Edward Shepherd Creasy was born in Bexley, Kent, where 
his father was a land-agent, in 1812. A few years later the 
family removed to Brighton, where the father became an 
auctioneer and published a newspaper. The son was sent to 
Eton, and obtained a scholarship. He went thence to Cam- 
bridge in 1834, and in 1837 was called to the bar at Lincoln's 
Inn. He was for a time assistant judge of the Westminster 
sessions court, and in 1840 was made Professor of History in 
London University. He was a Liberal in politics. In i860 
he was appointed Chief Justice of Ceylon and was knighted. 
After ten years of service in the isle of the spicy breezes, he 
returned to England with broken health, and on January 27, 
1878, he died. 

His " Decisive Battles," which was originally published 
in 1852, so far surpasses all his other work in popularity, 
that, to the American reader at least, he appears to be that 
anomaly, the author of one book. But in truth he published a 
dozen, at least two of which are valuable. His first, as with 
many other eminent writers of prose, was a volume of poems, 
which he published at the age of thirty-one. This was fol- 
lowed by " Eton College " (1848) ; " A Text-book of the Con- 
stitution " (1848 ; enlarged as a history of the English 
Constitution, 1856); "Sub Rege Sacerdos " (1848); "Emi- 
nent Etonians " (1850) ; "The Battle of Waterloo " (1852); 
" Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World" (1852); " Invasions 
and Projected Invasions of England, from the Saxon Times " 
(1852); " History of the Ottoman Turks" (1856); "A His- 
tory of England, from the Earliest to the Present Time " 
(2 vols., unfinished, 1869-70); "The Old Love and the 
New," a novel (1870); "The Imperial and Colonial Consti- 
tutions of the Britannic Empire, including Indian Institu- 
tions " (1872); and "The First Platform of International 
Law" (1876). His " History of the English Constitution" 
is highly esteemed in his own country. His " History of 
England " was intended to be brought down to the present 
time in five moderate volumes, and the two that were pub- 



/ 



CREASY'S "DECISIVE BATTLES V 

lished gave promise of one of the most admirable of short 
histories. Professor Creasy was associated with Dr. Gordon 
Latham and Mr. Sheehan in contributing to " Bentley's 
Miscellany" the political poems called "The Tipperary 
Papers." 

The modern fashion of writing history is, to ignore dynas- 
ties and military operations as much as possible, and even to 
treat legislation and forms of government as rather incidental 
than essential, while mercantile and industrial developments 
are dwelt upon and religious and intellectual movements 
traced — the results being called histories of the people as 
distinguished from the sovereigns or the government. This 
may be correct, and the nations would certainly be happier if 
not more virtuous, were there to be henceforth no other kind 
of history to write. But we cannot ignore the fact that in 
the past battles have turned the destinies of the race ; while 
the dawn of universal and permanent peace has been so often 
vainly announced that we are still justified in studying the 
art of war. 

R. J. 



THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE 



IT is an honorable characteristic of the spirit of this age, that 
projects of violence and warfare are regarded among civi- 
lized states with gradually increasing aversion. The Uni- 
versal Peace Society certainly does not, and probably never 
will, enroll the majority of statesmen among its members. 
But even those who look upon the appeal of battle as occa- 
sionally unavoidable in international controversies concur in 
thinking it a deplorable necessity, only to be resorted to 
when all peaceful modes of arrangement have been vainly 
tried, and when the law of self-defense justifies a state, like 
an individual, in using force to protect itself from imminent 
and serious injury. For a writer, therefore, of the present 
day to choose battles for his favorite topic merely because 
they were battles, merely because so many myriads of troops 
were arrayed in them, and so many hundreds or thousands 
of human beings stabbed, hewed, or shot each other to 
death during them, would argue strange weakness or de- 
pravity of mind. Yet it cannot be denied that a fearful and 
wonderful interest is attached to these scenes of carnage. 
There is undeniable greatness in the disciplined courage and 
in the love of honor which make the combatants confront 
agony and destruction. And the powers of the human intel- 
lect are rarely more strongly displayed than they are in the 
commander who regulates, arrays, and wields at his will 
these masses of armed disputants ; who, cool yet daring, in 
the midst of peril, reflects on all, and provides for all, ever 
ready with fresh resources and designs, as the vicissitudes 
of the storm of slaughter require. But these qualities, how- 
ever high they may appear, are to be found in the basest as 
well as in the noblest of mankind. Catiline was as brave a 
soldier as Leonidas, and a much better officer. Alva sur- 



vm DECISIVE BATTLES 

passed the Prince of Orange in the field ; and Suwarrow was 
the military superior of Kosciusko. To adopt the emphatic 
words of Byron — 

" 'Tis the cause makes all, 
Degrades or hallows courage in its fall." 

There are some battles, also, which claim our attention, inde- 
pendently of the moral worth of the combatants, on account of 
their enduring importance, and by reason of the practical in- 
fluence on our own social and political condition, which we can 
trace up to the results of those engagements. They have for 
us an abiding and actual interest, both while we investigate 
the chain of causes and effects by which they have helped to 
make us what we are, and also while we speculate on what we 
probably should have been if any one of these battles had 
come to a different termination. Hallam has admirably 
expressed this in his remarks on the victory gained by 
Charles Martel, between Tours and Poictiers, over the invad- 
ing Saracens. 

He says of it, that "it may justly be reckoned among those 
few battles of which a contrary event would have essentially 
varied the drama of the world in all its subsequent scenes : with 
Marathon, Arbela, the Metaurus, Chalons, and Leipsic." It 
was the perusal of this note of Hallam's that first led me to 
the consideration of my present subject. I certainly differ 
with that great historian as to the comparative importance of 
some of the battles which he thus enumerates, and also of 
some which he omits. It is probable, indeed, that no two 
historical inquirers would entirely agree in their lists of the 
decisive battles of the world. Different minds will naturally 
vary in the impressions which particular events make on 
them ; and in the degree of interest with which they watch 
the career, and reflect on the importance, of different his- 
torical personages. But our concurrence in our catalogues 
is of little moment, provided we learn to look on these great 
historical events in the spirit which Hallam's observations 
indicate. Those remarks should teach us to watch how the 
interests of many states are often involved in the collisions 
between a few ; and how the effect of those collisions is not 
limited to a single age, but may receive an impulse which 



AUTHOR'S PREFACE ix 

will sway the fortunes of successive generations of mankind. 
Most valuable also is the mental discipline which is thus ac- 
quired, and by which we are trained not only to observe what 
has been and what is, but also to ponder on what might have 
been. 

We thus learn not to judge of the wisdom of measures too 
exclusively by the results. We learn to apply the juster 
standard of seeing what the circumstances and the proba- 
bilities were that surrounded a statesman or a general at the 
time when he decided on his plan ; we value him not by his 
fortune, but by his 7rpoaipeaL<;, to adopt the expressive Greek 
word, for which our language gives no equivalent. 

The reasons why each of the following fifteen battles has 
been selected will, I trust, appear when it is described. But 
it may be well to premise a few remarks on the negative tests 
which have led me to reject others which at first sight may 
appear equal in magnitude and importance to the chosen 
fifteen. 

I need hardly remark that it is not the number of killed 
and wounded in a battle that determines its general histori- 
cal importance. It is not because only a few hundreds fell 
in the battle by which Joan of Arc captured the Tourelles and 
raised the siege of Orleans that the effect of that crisis is to 
be judged; nor would a full belief in the largest number 
which Eastern historians state to have been slaughtered in 
any of the numerous conflicts between Asiatir rulers make 
me regard the engagement in which they fell as one of para- 
mount importance to mankind. But, besides bat.'es of this 
kind, there are many of great consequence, and attended 
with circumstances which powerfully excite our feelings and 
rivet our attention, which yet appear to me of mere second- 
ary rank, inasmuch as either their effects were limited "^t 
area, or they themselves merely confirmed some great ten- 
dency or bias which an earlier battle had originated. For 
example, the encounters between the Greeks and Persians 
which followed Marathon seem to me not to have been phe- 
nomena of primary impulse. Greek superiority had been 
already asserted, Asiatic ambition had been already checked, 
before Salamis and Platasa confirmed the superiority of Euro- 
pean free states over Oriental despotism. So, ^gos-Potamos, 



X DECISIVE BATTLES 

which finally crushed the maritime power of Athens, seems 
to me inferior in interest to the defeat before Syracuse, where 
Athens received her first fatal check, and after which she only 
struggled to retard her downfall. I think similarly of Zama 
with respect to Carthage, as compared with the Metaurus ; 
and, on the same principle, the subsequent great battles of 
the Revolutionary war appear to me inferior in their impor- 
tance to Valmy, which first determined the military character 
and career of the French Revolution. 

I am aware that a little activity of imagination, and a slight 
exercise of metaphysical ingenuity, may amuse us, by show- 
ing how the chain of circumstances is so linked together that 
the smallest skirmish, or the slightest event of any kind 
that ever occurred, may be said to have been essential, in its 
actual termination, to the whole order of subsequent events. 
But when I speak of causes and effects, I speak of the obvious 
and important agency of one fact upon another, and not of 
remote and fancifully infinitesimal influences. I am aware 
that, on the other hand, the reproach of fatalism is justly in- 
curred by those who, like the writers of a certain school in a 
neighboring country, recognize in history nothing more than 
a series of necessary phenomena, which follow inevitably one 
upon the other. But when, in this work, I speak of proba- 
bilities, I speak of human probabilities only. When I speak 
of cause and effect, I speak of those general laws by which 
we perceive the sequence of human affairs to be usually 
regulated, and in which we recognize emphatically the wisdom 
and power of the Supreme Lawgiver, the design of the 
Designer.) ■ 

MiTRfsr Court Chambers, Temple, 
fum 26, 1 85 1. 



FAMOUS AND UNIQUE MANUSCRIPT AND 
BOOK ILLUSTRATIONS. 

A series of fac-similes, showing the development of manuscript and 
book illustrating during 4000 years. 



A PAGE FROM LVD GATE'S LIFE OF 
ST. EDMUND. 

The manuscript from which this specimen is taken was written by order 
of the Abbot Curteis, of Bury St. Edmunds, in the year 1433, as a present to 
King- Henry VII., who, as a boy of twelve years spent the Christmas holidays 
at the Abbey. The embellishment is an example of the most decorative style 
attained by the ivj'-leaf pattern. It enclosed the commencement of the poem 
of St. Edmund, as translated by Lydgate from the French, and in modern 
English spelling would read: 

In Saxony whilom there was a king 

Called Edmund, of excellent noblesse, 

A manly prince virtuous of living 

And full habounde (i) of treasure and richesse, 

iletalle in amies, full renowned of prowesse, 

A seemly person, hardy and courageous, 

Mercurj- in wisdom, like Mars victorious, 

(i) Habounde=abundance. 



gjWA^ 





itrftlTi^ 4£gmon4>/ of wcet^nr t\«6^ 
3ll; mftnK i»«nc<//occCuoujG oT feuttntt 

ciccum&ect/as ^moua (Scteidri" 
^■n ^wnd& ^enour/ oftncjt <«cetfctt<e 
^ oCS)e tn nt» ^nve / tfiaiu^Tna«y a retfion 



^^«ue af tee/our/ to u>ue {|«>:$ att:S) ^rce^e 






-&' 



«t in a <*ai«r/>f vytuttx ShOnitc 



fiat fout tvpt tfpgi/W^grUatvg) tfjou^t 

^ '-'^ J^ -7-' 



SDeUicateD to 

ROBERT GORDON LATHAM, M.D., F.R.S. 

Late Fellow of King's College, Cambridge; 

Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, London; Member of the Ethnological 

Society, New York; Late Professor of the English Language and 

Literature in University College, London 

BY HIS FRIEND 
THE AUTHOR 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I 

PAGE 

The Battle of Marathon, 490 b.c i 

Explanatory Remarks on Some of the Circumstances of the Battle 
of Marathon 32 

Synopsis of Events between the Battle of Marathon and the Defeat 
of the Athenians at Syracuse 33 

CHAPTER n 

Defeat of the Athenians at Syracuse, 413 b.c. • • • 37 

Synopsis of Events between the Defeat of the Athenians at Syra- 
cuse and the Battle of Arbela 56 

CHAPTER HI 
The Battle of Arbela, 331 b.c. 59 

Synopsis of Events between the Battle of Arbela and the Battle of 
the Metaurus 82 

CHAPTER IV 
The Battle of the Metaurus, 207 b.c 87 

Synopsis of Events between the Battle of the Metaurus and 
Arminius's Victory over the Roman Legions under Varus . 116 

CHAPTER V 
Victory of Arminius over the Roman Legions under Varus, 

9 A.D. ........... 123 

Arminius 136 

Synopsis of Events between Arminius's Victory over Varus and 
the Battle of Chalons .146 



xiv DECISIVE BATTLES 

CHAPTER VI 

PAGE 

The Battle of Chalons, 451 • 149 

Synopsis of Events between the Battle of Chalons and the Battle 
of Tours 164 

CHAPTER VII 
The Battle of Tours, 732 166 

Synopsis of Events between the Battle of Tours and the Battle 
of Hastings 176 

CHAPTER VIII 
The Battle of Hastings, 1066 179 

Synopsis of Events between the Battle of Hastings and Joan of 
Arc's Victory at Orleans 215 

CHAPTER IX 
Joan of Arc's Victory over the English at Orleans, 1429 219 

Synopsis of Events between Joan of Arc's Victory at Orleans and 
the Defeat of the Spanish Armada 238 

CHAPTER X 
The Defeat of the Spanish Armada, 1588 .... 240 

Synopsis of Events between the Defeat of the Spanish Armada 
and the Battle of Blenheim . . . . . . .271 

CHAPTER XI 
The Battle of Blenheim, 1704 274 

Synopsis of Events between the Battle of Blenheim and the Battle 
of Pultowa 298 

CHAPTER XII 
The Battle of Pultowa, 1709 299 

Synopsis of Events between the Battle of Pultowa and the Defeat 
of Burgoyne at Saratoga . '313 



V 

X 



CONTENTS XV 

CHAPTER XIII 

PAGE 

Victory of the Americans over Burgoyne at Saratoga, 

1777 316 

Synopsis of Events between the Defeat of Burgoyne at Saratoga 
and the Battle of Valmy 345 

CHAPTER XIV 
The Battle of Valmy, 1792 346 

Synopsis of Events between the Battle of Valmy and the Battle 
of Waterloo 362 

CHAPTER XV 
The Battle of Waterloo, 181 5 364 

CHAPTER XVI 

The Battle of Gettysburg, 1863. (Written for this edition by 

Rossiter Johnson) . . . . . . . -431 

CHAPTER XVII 

The Battle of Sedan, 1870. (Written for this edition by Frank 

Huntington) ......... 449 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

Edward Shepherd Creasy facing page 

Photogravure from a portrait ..... Frontispiece 

Lydgate's Life of St. Edmund 

Illuminated page from fifteenth-century manuscript . . . . x 

Charles Martel 

Photogravure from a painting by Tugnetti l66 

William the Conqueror 

Photogravure from a drawing by Guilleminot . . . . .178 

The Battle of Hastings 

Photogravure from an engraving , . . 210 

Joan of Arc listening to the Voices 

Photogravure from a painting by Wagrez ...... 226 

Peter the Great 

Photogravure from a painting by Kneller 306 

After Waterloo 

Photogravure from a painting by A. C. Gow 412 

Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg 

Photogravure from a painting by Philipoteaux 446 

Moltke at Sedan 

Photogravure from a painting by A. von Werner 468 

xvii 



THE 

DECISIVE BATTLES OF THE WORLD 

CHAPTER I 

The Battle of Marathon, 490 B.C. 

" Quibus actus uterque 
Europae atque Asiae fatis concurrent orbis." 

TWO thousand three hundred and forty years ago, a 
council of Athenian officers was summoned on the 
slope of one of the mountains that look over the plain 
of Marathon, on the eastern coast of Attica. The immediate 
subject of their meeting was to consider whether they should 
give battle to an enemy that lay encamped on the shore 
beneath them ; but on the result of their deliberations de- 
pended, not merely the fate of two armies, but the whole future 
progress of human civilization. 

There were eleven members of that council of war. Ten 
were the generals, who were then annually elected at Athens, 
one for each of the local tribes into which the Athenians were 
divided. Each general led the men of his own tribe, and 
each was invested with equal military authority. One also 
of the Archons was associated with them in the joint command 
of the collective force. This magistrate was termed the Pol- 
emarch, or War Ruler : he had the privilege of leading the 
right wing of the army in battle, and of taking part in all 
councils of war. A noble Athenian, named Callimachus, was 
the War Ruler of this year ; and, as such, stood listening to the 
earnest discussion of the ten generals. They had, indeed, 
deep matter for anxiety, though little aware how momentous 
to mankind were the votes they were about to give, or how 
the generations to come would read with interest the record 



2 DECISIVE BATTLES [490 B.C. 

of their debate. They saw before them the invading forces 
of a mighty empire, which had in the last fifty years shattered 
and enslaved nearly all the kingdoms and principalities of 
the then known world. They knew that all the resources of 
their own country were comprised in the little army entrusted 
to their guidance. They saw before them a chosen host of 
the Great King, sent to wreak his special wrath on that coun- 
try, and on the other insolent little Greek community, which 
had dared to aid his rebels and burn the capital of one of his 
provinces. That victorious host had already fulfilled half its 
mission of vengeance. Eretria, the confederate of Athens in 
the bold march against Sardis nine years before, had fallen 
in the last few days ; and the Athenian generals could discern 
from the heights the island of yEgilia, in which the Persians 
had deposited their Eretrian prisoners, whom they had re- 
served to be led away captives into Upper Asia, there to hear 
their doom from the lips of King Darius himself. Moreover, 
the men of Athens knew that in the camp before them was 
their own banished tyrant, Hippias, who was seeking to be 
reinstated by foreign simitars in despotic sway over any 
remnant of his countrymen that might survive the sack of 
their town, and might be left behind as too worthless for 
leading away into Median bondage. 

The numerical disparity between the force which the Athe- 
nian commanders had under them, and that which they were 
called on to encounter, was fearfully apparent to some of the 
council. The historians who wrote nearest to the time of the 
battle do not pretend to give any detailed statements of the num- 
bers engaged, but there are sufificient data for our making a 
general estimate. Every free Greek was trained to military 
duty ; and, from the incessant border wars between the differ- 
ent states, few Greeks reached the age of manhood without 
having seen some service. But the muster-roll of free Athe- 
nian citizens of an age fit ^for military duty never exceeded 
thirty thousand, and at this epoch probably did not amount 
to two thirds of that number. Moreover, the poorer portion 
of these were unprovided with the equipments and untrained 
to the operations of the regular infantry. Some detachments 
of the best-armed troops would be required to garrison the 
city itself and man the various fortified posts in the territory ; 



490 B.C.] BATTLE OF MARATHON 3 

so that it is impossible to reckon the fully equipped force that 
marched from Athens to Marathon, when the news of the 
Persian landing arrived, at higher than ten thousand men.^ 

With one exception, the other Greeks held back from aid- 
ing them. Sparta had promised assistance ; but the Persians 
had landed on the sixth day of the moon, and a religious 
scruple delayed the march of Spartan troops till the moon 
should have reached its full. From one quarter only, and 
that a most unexpected one, did Athens receive aid at the 
moment of her great peril. 

For some years before this time, the little state of Plataea 
in Boeotia, being hard pressed by her powerful neighbor, 
Thebes, had asked the protection of Athens, and had owed 
to an Athenian army the rescue of her independence. Now 
when it was noised over Greece that the Mede had come 
from the uttermost parts of the earth to destroy Athens, the 
brave Plataeans, unsolicited, marched with their whole force 
to assist in the defense, and to share the fortunes of their 
benefactors. The general levy of the Plataeans only amounted 
to a thousand men ; and this little column, marching from 
their city along the southern ridge of Mount Cithaeron, and 
thence across the Attic territory, joined the Athenian forces 
above Marathon almost immediately before the battle. The 
reenforcement was numerically small ; but the gallant spirit 
of the men who composed it must have made it of tenfold 
value to the Athenians, and its presence must have gone far 
to dispel the cheerless feeling of being deserted and friendless 
which the delay of the Spartan succors was calculated to 
create among the Athenian ranks. 

This generous daring of their weak but true-hearted ally 
was never forgotten at Athens. The Plataeans were made 
the fellow countrymen of the Athenians, except the right of 
exercising certain political functions ; and from that time forth, 
in the solemn sacrifices at Athens, the public prayers were 
offered up for a joint blessing from Heaven upon the Athe- 
nians, and the Plataeans also.^ 

After the junction of the column from Plataea, the Athe- 
nian commanders must have had under them about eleven 
thousand fully armed and disciplined infantry, and probably 
a larger number of irregular light-armed troops ; as, besides 



4 DECISIVE BATTLES [490 B.C. 

the poorer citizens who went to the field armed with javeUns, 
cutlasses, and targets, each regular heavy-armed soldier was 
attended in the camp by one or more slaves, who were armed 
like the inferior freemen.^ Cavalry or archers the Athenians 
(on this occasion) had none ; and the use in the field of mili- 
tary engines was not at that period introduced into ancient 
warfare. 

Contrasted with their own scanty forces, the Greek com- 
manders saw stretched before them, along the shores of the 
winding bay, the tents and shipping of the varied nations that 
marched to do the bidding of the king of the Eastern world. 
The difficulty of finding transports and of securing provisions 
would form the only limit to the numbers of a Persian army. 
Nor is there any reason to suppose the estimate of Justin ex- 
aggerated, who rates at a hundred thousand the force which 
on this occasion had sailed, under the satraps Datis and Arta- 
phernes, from the Cilician shores, against the devoted coasts 
of Euboea and Attica. And after largely deducting from this 
total, so as to allow for mere mariners and camp-followers, 
there must still have remained fearful odds against the na- 
tional levies of the Athenians. Nor could Greek generals 
then feel that confidence in the superior quality of their 
troops which ever since the battle of Marathon has animated 
Europeans in conflicts with Asiatics ; as, for instance, in the 
after struggles between Greece and Persia, or when the Roman 
legions encountered the myriads of Mithridates and Tigranes, 
or as is the case in the Indian campaigns of our own regi- 
ments. On the contrary, up to the day of Marathon the 
Medes and Persians were reputed invincible. They had more 
than once met Greek troops in Asia Minor, in Cyprus, in 
Egypt, and had invariably beaten them. Nothing can be 
stronger than the expressions used by the early Greek writers 
respecting the terror which the name of the Medes inspired, 
and the prostration of men's spirits before the apparently 
resistless career of the Persian arms. It is, therefore, little 
to be wondered at that five of the ten Athenian generals 
shrank from the prospect of fighting a pitched battle against 
an enemy so superior in numbers, and so formidable in mili- 
tary renown. Their own position on the heights was strong, 
and offered great advantages to a small defending force 



490B.C.] BATTLE OF MARATHON 5 

against assailing masses. They deemed it mere foolhardi- 
ness to descend into the plain to be trampled down by the 
Asiatic horse, overwhelmed with the archery, or cut to pieces 
by the invincible veterans of Cambyses and Cyrus. More- 
over, Sparta, the great war state of Greece, had been applied 
to, and had promised succor to Athens, though the religious 
observance which the Dorians paid to certain times and sea- 
sons had for the present delayed their march. Was it not 
wise, at any rate, to wait till the Spartans came up, and to 
have the help of the best troops in Greece, before they 
exposed themselves to the shock of the dreaded Medes .'' 

Specious as these reasons might appear, the other five 
generals were for speedier and bolder operations. And, 
fortunately for Athens and for the world, one of them was a 
man, not only of the highest military genius, but also of that 
energetic character which impresses its own type and ideas 
upon spirits feebler in conception. 

Miltiades was the head of one of the noblest houses at 
Athens : he ranked the ^acidae among his ancestry, and the 
blood of Achilles flowed in the veins of the hero of Marathon. 
One of his immediate ancestors had acquired the dominion of 
the Thracian Chersonese, and thus the family became at the 
same time Athenian citizens and Thracian princes. This 
occurred at the time when Pisistratus was tyrant of Athens. 
Two of the relatives of Miltiades — an uncle of the same name, 
and a brother named Stesagoras — had ruled the Chersonese 
before Miltiades became its prince. He had been brought up 
at Athens in the house of his father Cimon, who was renowned 
throughout Greece for his victories in the Olympic chariot- 
races, and who must have been possessed of great wealth. 
The sons of Pisistratus, who succeeded their father in the 
tyranny at Athens, caused Cimon to be assassinated, but they 
treated the young Miltiades with favor and kindness ; and 
when his brother Stesagoras died in the Chersonese, they 
sent him out there as lord of the principality. This was 
about twenty-eight years before the battle of Marathon, and 
it is with his arrival in the Chersonese that our first knowl- 
edge of the career and character of Miltiades commences. 
We find, in the first act recorded of him, proof of the same 
resolute and unscrupulous spirit that marked his mature 



6 DECISIVE BATTLES [490 B.C. 

age. His brother's authority in the principality had been 
shaken by war and revolt : Miltiades determined to rule more 
securely. On his arrival he kept close within his house, as 
if he were mourning for his brother. The principal men of 
the Chersonese, hearing of this, assembled from all the 
towns and districts, and went together to the house of Miltia- 
des on a visit of condolence. As soon as he had thus got 
them in his power, he made them all prisoners. He then 
asserted and maintained his own absolute authority in the 
peninsula, taking into his pay a body of five hundred regu- 
lar troops, and strengthening his interest by marrying the 
daughter of the king of the neighboring Thracians. 

When the Persian power was extended to the Hellespont 
and its neighborhood, Miltiades, as prince of the Chersonese, 
submitted to King Darius ; and he was one of the numerous 
tributary rulers who led their contingents of men to serve in 
the Persian army in the expedition against Scythia. Miltia- 
des and the vassal Greeks of Asia Minor were left by the 
Persian king in charge of the bridge across the Danube, 
when the invading army crossed that river and plunged into 
the wilds of the country that now is Russia, in vain pursuit 
of the ancestors of the modern Cossacks. On learning the 
reverses that Darius met with in the Scythian wilderness, 
Miltiades proposed to his companions that they should break 
the bridge down, and leave the Persian king and his army to 
perish by famine and the Scythian arrows. The rulers of 
the Asiatic Greek cities whom Miltiades addressed shrank 
from this bold and ruthless stroke against the Persian power, 
and Darius returned in safety. But it was known what 
advice Miltiades had given ; and the vengeance of Darius 
was thenceforth specially directed against the man who had 
counseled such a deadly blow against his empire and his 
person. The occupation of the Persian arms in other quar- 
ters left Miltiades for some years after this in possession of 
the Chersonese ; but it was precarious and interrupted. He, 
however, availed himself of the opportunity which his posi- 
tion gave him of conciliating the good-will of his fellow coun- 
trymen at Athens by conquering and placing under Athenian 
authority the islands of Lemnos and Imbros, to which Athens 
had ancient claims, but which she had never previously been 



490B.C.] BATTLE OF MARATHON 7 

able to bring into complete subjection. At length, in 494 B.C., 
the complete suppression of the Ionian revolt by the Persians 
left their armies and fleets at liberty to act against the 
enemies of the Great King to the west of the Hellespont. 
A strong squadron of Phoenician galleys was sent against 
the Chersonese. Miltiades knew that resistance was hope- 
less; and while the Phoenicians were at Tenedos, he loaded 
five galleys with all the treasure that he could collect, and 
sailed away for Athens. The Phoenicians fell in with him, 
and chased him hard along the north of the ^gean. One 
of his galleys, on board of which was his eldest son, Meti- 
ochus, was actually captured ; but Miltiades, with the other 
four, succeeded in reaching the friendly coast of Imbros in 
safety. Thence he afterwards proceeded to Athens, and 
resumed his station as a free citizen of the Athenian 
commonwealth. 

The Athenians at this time had recently expelled Hippias, 
the son of Pisistratus, the last of their tyrants. They were 
in the full glow of their newly recovered liberty and equality ; 
and the constitutional changes of Cleisthenes had inflamed 
their republican zeal to the utmost. Miltiades had enemies 
at Athens ; and these, availing themselves of the state of pop- 
ular feeling, brought him to trial for his life for having been 
tyrant of the Chersonese. The charge did not necessarily 
import any acts of cruelty or wrong to individuals : it was 
founded on no specific law ; but it was based on the horror 
with which the Greeks of that age regarded every man who 
made himself compulsory master of his fellow men, and exer- 
cised irresponsible dominion over them. The fact of Miltia- 
des having so ruled in the Chersonese was undeniable ; but 
the questions which the Athenians, assembled in judgment, 
must have tried was, whether Miltiades, by becoming tyrant 
of the Chersonese, deserved punishment as an Athenian citi- 
zen. The eminent service that he had done the state in con- 
quering Lemnos and Imbros for it pleaded strongly in his 
favor. The people refused to convict him. He stood high 
in public opinion ; and when the coming invasion of the Per- 
sians was known, the people wisely elected him one of their 
generals for the year. 

Two other men of signal eminence in history, though their 



8 DECISIVE BATTLES [490 B.C. 

renown was achieved at a later period than that of Miltiades, 
were also among the ten Athenian generals at Marathon. One 
was Themistocles, the future founder of the Athenian navy 
and the destined victor of Salamis ; the other was Aristides, 
who afterwards led the Athenian troops at Plataea, and whose 
integrity and just popularity acquired for his country, when 
the Persians had finally been repulsed, the advantageous pre- 
eminence of being acknowledged by half of the Greeks as their 
impartial leader and protector. It is not recorded what part 
either Themistocles or Aristides took in the debate of the 
council of war at Marathon. But from the character of The- 
mistocles, his boldness, and his intuitive genius for extempo- 
rizing the best measures in every emergency (a quality which 
the greatest of historians ascribes to him beyond all his con- 
temporaries), we may well believe that the vote of Themisto- 
cles was for prompt and decisive action. On the vote of Aris- 
tides it may be more difficult to speculate. His predilection 
for the Spartans may have made him wish to wait till they 
came up ; but, though circumspect, he was neither timid as a 
soldier nor as a politician ; and the bold advice of Miltiades 
may probably have found in Aristides a willing, most assuredly 
it found in him a candid, hearer. 

Miltiades felt no hesitation as to the course which the Athe- 
nian army ought to pursue ; and earnestly did he press his 
opinion on his brother generals. Practically acquainted with 
the organization of the Persian armies, Miltiades was convinced 
of the superiority of the Greek troops if properly handled : he 
saw with the military eye of a great general the advantage 
which the position of the forces gave him for a sudden attack, 
and as a profound politician he felt the perils of remaining 
inactive, and of giving treachery time to ruin the Athenian 
cause. 

One officer in the council of war had not yet voted. This 
was Callimachus, the War Ruler. The votes of the generals 
were five and five, so that the voice of Callimachus would be 
decisive. 

On that vote, in all human probability, the destiny of all 
the nations of the world depended. Miltiades turned to him, 
and in simple soldierly eloquence, the substance of which we 
may read faithfully reported in Herodotus, who had conversed 



X 



490 B.C.] BATTLE OF MARATHON 9 

with the veterans of Marathon, the great Athenian thus ad- 
jured his countryman to vote for giving battle : — 

" It now rests with you, Callimachus, either to enslave 
Athens, or, by assuring her freedom, to win yourself an im- 
mortality of fame, such as not even Harmodius and Aristo- 
geiton have acquired. For never, since the Athenians were 
a people, were they in such danger as they are in at this 
moment. If they bow the knee to these Medes, they are to be 
given up to Hippias, and you know what they then will have 
to suffer. But if Athens comes victorious out of this contest, 
she has it in her to become the first city of Greece. Your 
vote is to decide whether we are to join battle or not. If we 
do not bring on a battle presently, some factious intrigue will 
disunite the Athenians, and the city will be betrayed to the 
Medes. But if we fight before there is anything rotten in 
the state of Athens, I believe that, provided the gods will 
give fair play and no favor, we are able to get the best of it 
in the engagement." 

The vote of the brave War Ruler was gained ; the council 
determined to give battle ; and such was the ascendency and 
military eminence of Miltiades that his brother generals, one 
and all, gave up their days of command to him, and cheer- 
fully acted under his orders. Fearful, however, of creating 
any jealousy, and of so failing to obtain the cooperation of 
all parts of his small army, Miltiades waited till the day when 
the chief command would have come round to him in regular 
rotation before he led the troops against the enemy. 

The inaction of the Asiatic commanders during this inter- 
val appears strange at first sight ; but Hippias was with them, 
and they and he were aware of their chance of a bloodless 
conquest through the machinations of his partisans among 
the Athenians. The nature of the ground also explains, in 
many points, the tactics of the opposite generals before the 
battle, as well as the operations of the troops during the 
engagement. 

The plain of Marathon, which is about twenty-two miles 
distant from Athens, lies along the bay of the same name on 
the northeastern coast of Attica. The plain is nearly in the 
form of a crescent, and about six miles in length. It is about 
two miles broad in the center, where the space between the 



io) DECISIVE BATTLES [490 B.C. 

mountains and the sea is greatest, but it narrows towards 
either extremity, the mountains coming close down to the 
water at the horns of the bay. There is a valley trending 
inwards from the middle of the plain, and a ravine comes 
down to it to the southward. Elsewhere it is closely girt 
round on the land side by rugged limestone mountains, which 
are thickly studded with pines, olive-trees, and cedars, and over- 
grown with the myrtle, arbutus, and the other low odoriferous 
shrubs that everywhere perfume the Attic air. The level of 
the ground is now varied by the mound raised over those who 
fell in the battle, but it was an unbroken plain when the Per- 
sians encamped on it. There are marshes at each end, which 
are dry in spring and summer, and then offer no obstruction 
to the horseman, but are commonly flooded with rain, and so 
rendered impracticable for cavalry, in the autumn, the time 
of year at which the action took place. 

The Greeks, lying encamped on the mountains, could watch 
every movement of the Persians on the plain below, while they 
were enabled completely to mask their own. Miltiades also 
had, from his position, the power of giving battle whenever 
he pleased, or of delaying it at his discretion, unless Datis 
were to attempt the perilous operation of storming the heights. 

If we turn to the map of the Old World, to test the compara- 
tive territorial resources of the two states whose armies were 
now about to come into conflict, the immense preponderance 
of the material power of the Persian king over that of the 
Athenian republic is more striking than any similar contrast 
which history can supply. It has been truly remarked, that, 
in estimating mere areas, Attica, containing on its whole sur- 
face only seven hundred square miles, shrinks into insignifi- 
cance if compared with many a baronial fief of the Middle 
Ages, or many a colonial allotment of modern times. Its 
antagonist, the Persian empire, comprised the whole of modern 
Asiatic and much of modern European Turkey, the modern 
kingdom of Persia, and the countries of modern Georgia, 
Armenia, Balkh, the Punjab, Afghanistan, Baluchistan, 
Egypt, and Tripoli. 

Nor could a European, in the beginning of the fifth cen- 
tury before our era, look upon this huge accumulation of 
power beneath the scepter of a single Asiatic ruler with the 



490 B.C.] BATTLE OF MARATHON II 

indifference with which we now observe on the map the 
extensive dominions of modern Oriental sovereigns. For, as 
has been already remarked, before Marathon was fought the 
prestige of success and of supposed superiority of race was 
on the side of the Asiatic against the European. Asia was 
the original seat of human societies ; and long before any 
trace can be found of the inhabitants of the rest of the world 
having emerged from the rudest barbarism, we can perceive 
that mighty and brilliant empires flourished in the Asiatic 
continent. They appear before us through the twilight of 
primeval history, dim and indistinct, but massive and majes- 
tic, like mountains in the early dawn. 

Instead, however, of the infinite variety and restless change 
which have characterized the institutions and fortunes of 
European states ever since the commencement of the civili- 
zation of our continent, a monotonous uniformity pervades 
the histories of nearly all Oriental empires, from the most 
ancient down to the most recent times. They are character- 
ized by the rapidity of their early conquests ; by the immense 
extent of the dominions comprised in them ; by the estab- 
lishment of a satrap or pasha system of governing the prov- 
inces ; by an invariable and speedy degeneracy in the princes 
of the royal house, the effeminate nurslings of the seraglio 
succeeding to the warrior sovereigns reared in the camp ; and 
by the internal anarchy and insurrections which indicate and 
accelerate the decline and fall of these unwieldy and ill-organ- 
ized fabrics of power. It is also a striking fact that the 
governments of all the great Asiatic empires have in all ages 
been absolute despotisms. And Heeren is right in connect- 
ing this with another great fact, which is important from its 
influence both on the political and the social life of Asiatics : 
"Among all the considerable nations of Inner Asia, the 
paternal government of every household was corrupted by 
polygamy ; where that custom exists, a good political consti- 
tution is impossible. Fathers being converted into domestic 
despots, are ready to pay the same abject obedience to their 
sovereign which they exact from their family and dependents 
in their domestic economy." We should bear in mind also 
the inseparable connection between the state religion and all 
legislation, which has always prevailed in the East, and the 



12 DECISIVE BATTLES [490 B.C. 

constant existence of a powerful sacerdotal body, exercising 
some check, though precarious and irregular, over the throne 
itself, grasping at all civil administration, claiming the su- 
preme control of education, stereotyping the lines in which 
literature and science must move, and limiting the extent to 
which it shall be lawful for the human mind to prosecute its 
inquiries. 

With these general characteristics rightly felt and under- 
stood, it becomes a comparatively easy task to investigate and 
appreciate the origin, progress, and principles of Oriental 
empires in general, as well as of the Persian monarchy in 
particular. And we are thus better enabled to appreciate 
the repulse which Greece gave to the arms of the East, and 
to judge of the probable consequences to human civilization 
if the Persians had succeeded in bringing Europe under their 
yoke, as they had already subjugated the fairest portions of 
the rest of the then known world. 

The Greeks, from their geographical position, formed the 
natural vanguard of European liberty against Persian ambi- 
tion ; and they preeminently displayed the salient points of 
distinctive national character, which have rendered European 
civilization so far superior to Asiatic. The nations that 
dwelt in ancient times around and near the northern shores 
of the Mediterranean Sea were the first in our continent to 
receive from the East the rudiments of art and literature, and 
the germs of social and political organization. Of these 
nations, the Greeks, through their vicinity to Asia Minor, 
Phoenicia, and Egypt, were among the very foremost in 
acquiring the principles and habits of civilized life ; and they 
also at once imparted a new and wholly original stamp on all 
which they received. Thus, in their religion they received 
from foreign settlers the names of all their deities and many 
of their rites, but they discarded the loathsome monstrosities 
of the Nile, the Orontes, and the Ganges : they nationalized 
their creed ; and their own poets created their beautiful 
mythology. No sacerdotal caste ever existed in Greece. So, 
in their governments they lived long under hereditary kings, 
but never endured the permanent establishment of absolute 
monarchy. Their early kings were constitutional rulers, 
governing with defined prerogatives. And long before the 



490 B.C.] BATTLE OF MARATHON 13 

Persian invasion the kingly form of government had given 
way in almost all the Greek states to republican institutions, 
presenting infinite varieties of the balancing or the alternate 
predominance of the oligarchical and democratical principles. 
In literature and science the Greek intellect followed no 
beaten track, and acknowledged no limitary rules. The 
Greeks thought their subjects boldly out ; and the novelty of 
a speculation invested it in their minds with interest, and not 
with criminality. Versatile, restless, enterprising, and self- 
confident, the Greeks presented the most striking contrast to 
the habitual quietude and submissiveness of the Orientals. 
And, of all the Greeks, the Athenians exhibited these na- 
tional characteristics in the strongest degree. This spirit of 
activity and daring, joined to a generous sympathy for the 
fate of their fellow Greeks in Asia, had led them to join in 
the last Ionian war; and now, mingling with their abhor- 
rence of the usurping family of their own citizens, which for 
a period had forcibly seized on and exercised despotic power 
at Athens, it nerved them to defy the wrath of King Darius, 
and to refuse to receive back at his bidding the tyrant whom 
they had some years before driven from their land. 

The enterprise and genius of an Englishman have lately 
confirmed by fresh evidence, and invested with fresh interest, 
the might of the Persian monarch, who sent his troops to 
combat at Marathon. Inscriptions in a character termed the 
Arrow-headed, or Cuneiform, had long been known to exist 
on the marble monuments at Persepolis, near the site of the 
ancient Susa, and on the faces of rocks in other places for- 
merly ruled over by the early Persian kings. But for thou- 
sands of years they had been mere unintelligible enigmas to 
the curious but baffled beholder ; and they were often referred 
to as instances of the folly of human pride, which could in- 
deed write its own praise in the solid rock, but only for the 
rock to outlive the language as well as the memory of the 
vainglorious inscribers. The elder Niebuhr, Grotefend, and 
Lassen had made some guesses at the meaning of the Cunei- 
form letters ; but Major Rawlinson, of the East India Com- 
pany's service, after years of labor, has at last accomplished 
the glorious achievement of fully revealing the alphabet and 
the grammar of this long unknown tongue. He has, in par- 



X / iaa 



/ 



14 DECISIVE BATTLES [490 B.C. 

ticular, fully deciphered and expounded the inscriptions on 
the sacred rock of Behistun, on the western frontiers of 
Media. These records of the Achaemenidae have at length 
found their interpreter ; and Darius himself speaks to us from 
the consecrated mountain, and tells us the names of the 
nations that obeyed him, the revolts that he suppressed, his 
victories, his piety, and his glory. 

Kings who thus seek the admiration of posterity are little 
likely to dim the record of their successes by the mention of 
their occasional defeats ; and it throws no suspicion on the 
narrative of the Greek historians that we find these inscrip- 
tions respecting the overthrow of Datis and Artaphernes, as 
well as respecting the reverses which Darius sustained in per- 
son during his Scythian campaigns. But these indisputable 
monuments of Persian fame confirm, and even increase, the 
opinion with which Herodotus inspires us, of the vast power 
which Cyrus founded and Cambyses increased ; which Darius 
augmented by Indian and Arabian conquests, and seemed 
likely, when he directed his arms against Europe, to make 
the predominant monarchy of the world. 

With the exception of the Chinese empire, in which, through- 
out all ages down to the last few years, one third of the 
human race has dwelt almost unconnected with the other 
portions, all the great kingdoms which we know to have ex- 
isted in ancient Asia were, in Darius's time, blended with the 
Persian. The northern Indians, the Assyrians, the Syrians, 
the Babylonians, the Chaldees, the Phoenicians, the nations 
of Palestine, the Armenians, the Bactrians, the Lydians, the 
Phrygians, the Parthians, and the Medes — all obeyed the 
scepter of the Great King ; the Medes standing next to 
the native Persians in honor, and the empire being frequently 
spoken of as that of the Medes, or that of the Medes and Per- 
sians. Egypt and Cyrene were Persian provinces ; the Greek 
colonists in Asia Minor and the islands of the ^gean were 
Darius's subjects; and their gallant but unsuccessful attempts 
to throw off the Persian yoke had only served to rivet it more 
strongly, and to increase the general belief that the Greeks 
could not stand before the Persians in a field of battle. Da- 
rius's Scythian war, though unsuccessful in its immediate 
object, had brought about the subjugation of Thrace and the 



490 B.C.] BATTLE OF MARATHON 1$ 

submission of Macedonia, From the Indus to the Peneus, 
all was his. 

We may imagine the wrath with which the lord of so many 
nations must have heard, nine years before the battle of 
Marathon, that a strange nation towards the setting sun, 
called the Athenians, had dared to help his rebels in Ionia 
against him, and that they had plundered and burned the 
capital of one of his provinces. Before the burning of Sardis, 
Darius seems never to have heard of the existence of Athens ; 
but his satraps in Asia Minor had for some time seen Athe- 
nian refugees at their provincial courts imploring assistance 
against their fellow countrymen. When Hippias was driven 
away from Athens, and the tyrannic dynasty of the Pisistra- 
tidae finally overthrown in 510 B.C., the banished tyrant and 
his adherents, after vainly seeking to be restored by Spartan 
intervention, had betaken themselves to Sardis, the capital 
city of the satrapy of Artaphernes. There Hippias (in the 
expressive words of Herodotus) began every kind of agitation, 
slandering the Athenians before Artaphernes, and doing all 
he could to induce the satrap to place Athens in subjection 
to him, as the tributary vassal of King Darius. When the 
Athenians heard his practises, they sent envoys to Sardis to 
remonstrate with the Persians against taking up the quarrel 
of the Athenian refugees. But Artaphernes gave them in 
reply a menacing command to receive Hippias back again if 
they looked for safety. The Athenians were resolved not 
to purchase safety at such a price ; and after rejecting the 
satrap's terms, they considered that they and the Persians 
were declared enemies. At this very crisis the Ionian Greeks 
implored the assistance of their European brethren, to enable 
them to recover their independence from Persia. Athens, 
and the city of Eretria in Euboea, alone consented. Twenty 
Athenian galleys, and five Eretrian, crossed the ^gean Sea ; 
and by a bold and sudden march upon Sardis the Athenians 
and their allies succeeded in capturing the capital city of the 
haughty satrap, who had recently menaced them with servi- 
tude or destruction. The Persian forces were soon rallied, 
and the Greeks were compelled to retire. They were pur- 
sued, and defeated on their return to the coast, and Athens 
took no further part in the Ionian war. But the insult that 



l6 DECISIVE BATTLES [490 b.c. 

she had put upon the Persian power was speedily made 
known throughout that empire, and was never to be forgiven 
or forgotten. In the emphatic simpHcity of the narrative of 
Herodotus, the wrath of the Great King is thus described : 
" Now when it was told to King Darius that Sardis had been 
taken and burned by the Athenians and lonians, he took small 
heed of the lonians, well knowing who they were, and that 
their revolt would soon be put down ; but he asked who, and 
what manner of men, the Athenians were. And when he had 
been told, he called for his bow ; and, having taken it, and placed 
an arrow on the string, he let the arrow fly towards heaven ; and 
as he shot it into the air, he said, ' O Supreme God ! grant me 
that I may avenge myself on the Athenians.' And when he 
had said this, he appointed one of his servants to say to him 
every day as he sat at meat, ' Sire, remember the Athenians.' " 
Some years were occupied in the complete reduction of 
Ionia. But when this was effected, Darius ordered his victo- 
rious forces to proceed to punish Athens and Eretria, and to 
conquer European Greece. The first armament sent for this 
purpose was shattered by shipwreck, and nearly destroyed 
off Mount Athos. But the purpose of King Darius was not 
easily shaken. A larger army was ordered to be collected in 
Cilicia : and requisitions were sent to all the maritime cities of 
the Persian empire for ships of war, and for transports of 
sufficient size for carrying cavalry as well as infantry across 
the .^gean. While these preparations were being made, 
Darius sent heralds round to the Grecian cities demanding 
their submission to Persia. It was proclaimed in the market- 
place of each little Hellenic state (some with territories not 
larger than the Isle of Wight), that King Darius, the lord of 
all men, from the rising to the setting sun,^ required earth and 
water to be delivered to his heralds, as a symbolical acknowl- 
edgment that he was head and master of the country. Terror- 
stricken at the power of Persia and at the severe punishment 
that had recently been inilicted on the refractory lonians, 
many of the Continental Greeks and nearly all the islanders 
submitted, and gave the required tokens of vassalage. At 
Sparta and Athens an indignant refusal was returned : a re- 
fusal which was disgraced by outrage and violence against 
the persons of the Asiatic heralds. 



490 B.C.] BATTLE OF MARATHON 1 7 

Fresh fuel was thus added to the anger of Darius against 
Athens, and the Persian preparations went on with renewed 
vigor. In the summer of 490 B.C., the army destined for the 
invasion was assembled in the Aleian plain of Cilicia, near the 
sea. A fleet of six hundred galleys and numerous transports 
was collected on the coast for the embarkation of troops, 
horse as well as foot. A Median general named Datis, and 
Artaphernes, the son of the satrap of Sardis, and who was 
also nephew of Darius, were placed in titular joint command 
of the expedition. That the real supreme authority was given 
to Datis alone is probable, from the way in which the Greek 
writers speak of him. We know no details of the previous 
career of this officer ; but there is every reason to believe that 
his abilities and bravery had been proved by experience, or 
his Median birth would have prevented his being placed in 
high command by Darius, He appears to have been the first 
Mede who was thus trusted by the Persian kings after the 
overthrow of the conspiracy of the Median Magi against the 
Persians immediately before Darius obtained the throne. 
Datis received instructions to complete the subjugation of 
Greece, and especial orders were given him with regard to 
Eretria and Athens. He was to take these two cities ; and 
he was to lead the inhabitants away captive, and bring them 
as slaves into the presence of the Great King. 

Datis embarked his forces in the fleet that awaited them ; 
and coasting along the shores of Asia Minor till he was off 
Samos, he thence sailed due westward through the .^gean 
Sea for Greece, taking the islands in his way. The Naxians 
had, ten years before, successfully stood a siege against a 
Persian armament, but they now were too terrified to offer 
any resistance, and fled to the mountain tops, while the enemy 
burned their town and laid waste their lands. Thence Datis, 
compelling the Greek islanders to join him with their ships 
and men, sailed onward to the coast of Euboea. The little 
town of Carystus essayed resistance, but was quickly over- 
powered. He next attacked Eretria. The Athenians sent 
four thousand men to its aid. But treachery was at work 
among the Eretrians ; and the Athenian force received timely 
warning from one of the leading men of the city to retire to 
aid in saving their own country, instead of remaining to share 



I8 DECISIVE BATTLES [490 B.C. 

in thC) inevitable destruction of Eretria. Left to themselves, 
the Eretrians repulsed the assault of the Persians against their 
walls for six days ; on the seventh day they were betrayed by 
two of their chiefs, and the Persians occupied the city. The 
temples were burned in revenge for the burning of Sardis, and 
the inhabitants were bound and placed as prisoners in the 
neighboring islet of yEgylia, to wait there till Datis should 
bring the Athenians to join them in captivity, when both 
populations were to be led into Upper Asia, there to learn 
their doom from the lips of King Darius himself. 

Flushed with success, and with half his mission thus accom- 
plished, Datis reembarked his troops, and, crossing the little 
channel that separates Euboea from the mainland, he en- 
camped his troops on the Attic coast at Marathon, drawing 
up his galleys on the shelving beach, as was the custom with 
the navies of antiquity. The conquered islands behind him 
served as places of deposit for his provisions and military 
stores. His position at Marathon seemed to him in every 
respect advantageous ; and the level nature of the ground on 
which he camped was favorable for the employment of his 
cavalry, if the Athenians should venture to engage him. 
Hippias, who accompanied him, and acted as the guide of the 
invaders, had pointed out Marathon as the best place for a 
landing, for this very reason. Probably Hippias was also in- 
fluenced by the recollection that forty-seven years previously 
he, with his father Pisistratus, had crossed with an army from 
Eretria to Marathon, and had won an easy victory over their 
Athenian enemies on that very plain, which had restored 
them to tyrannic power. The omen seemed cheering. The 
place was the same ; but Hippias soon learned to his cost how 
great a change had come over the spirit of the Athenians. 

But though " the fierce democracy " of Athens was zealous 
and true against foreign invader and domestic tyrant, a faction 
existed in Athens, as at Eretria, of men willing to purchase a 
party triumph over their fellow citizens at the price of their 
country's ruin. Communications were opened between these 
men and the Persian camp, which would have led to a catas- 
trophe like that of Eretria, if Miltiades had not resolved, and 
had not persuaded his colleagues to resolve, on fighting at all 
hazards. 



490 B.C.] BATTLE OF MARATHON 19 

When Miltiades arrayed his men for action, he staked on 
the arbitrament of one battle not only the fate of Athens, but 
that of all Greece ; for if Athens had fallen, no other Greek 
state, except Lacedasmon, would have had the courage to 
resist ; and the Lacedaemonians, though they would probably 
have died in their ranks to the last man, never could have 
successfully resisted the victorious Persians and the numerous 
Greek troops which would have soon marched under the Per- 
sian satraps had they prevailed over Athens. 

Nor was there any power to the westward of Greece that 
could have offered an effectual opposition to Persia had she 
once conquered Greece and made that country a basis for 
future military operations. Rome was at this time in her sea- 
son of utmost weakness. Her dynasty of powerful Etruscan 
kings had been driven out, and her infant commonwealth 
was reeling under the attacks of the Etruscans and Volscians 
from without, and the fierce dissensions between the patri- 
cians and plebeians within. Etruria, with her Lucumos and 
serfs, was no match for Persia. Samnium had not grown 
into the might which she afterwards put forth ; nor could 
the Greek colonies in South Italy and Sicily hope to survive 
when their parent states had perished. Carthage had escaped 
the Persian yoke in the time of Cambyses, through the reluc- 
tance of the Phoenician mariners to serve against their kins- 
men. But such forbearance could not long have been relied 
on, and the future rival of Rome would have become as sub- 
missive a minister of the Persian power as were the Phoeni- 
cian cities themselves. If we turn to Spain, or if we pass the 
great mountain chain which, prolonged through the Pyrenees, 
the Cevennes, the Alps, and the Balkans, divides Northern from 
Southern Europe, we shall find nothing at that period but 
mere savage Finns, Celts, Slaves, and Teutons. Had Persia 
beaten Athens at Marathon, she could have found no obsta- 
cle to prevent Darius, the chosen servant of Ormuzd, from 
advancing his sway over all the known Western races of 
mankind. The infant energies of Europe would have been 
trodden out beneath universal conquest ; and the history of 
the world, like the history of Asia, would have become a 
mere record of the rise and fall of despotic dynasties, of the 
incursions of barbarous hordes, and of the mental and politi- 



20 DECISIVE BATTLES [490 B.C. 

cal prostration of millions beneath the diadem, the tiara, and 
the sword. 

Great as the preponderance of the Persian over the Athe- 
nian power at that crisis seems to have been, it would be 
unjust to impute wild rashness to the policy of Miltiades, and 
those who voted with him in the Athenian council of war, or 
to look on the after current of events as the mere result of 
successful indiscretion. As before has been remarked, Mil- 
tiades, while prince of the Chersonese, had seen service in the 
Persian armies ; and he knew by personal observation how 
many elements of weakness lurked beneath their imposing 
aspect of strength. He knew that the bulk of their troops 
no longer consisted of the hardy shepherds and mountaineers 
from Persia proper and Kurdistan, who won Cyrus's battles : 
but that unwilling contingents from conquered nations now 
largely filled up the Persian muster-rolls, fighting more from 
compulsion than from any zeal in the cause of their masters. 
He had also the sagacity and the spirit to appreciate the 
superiority of the Greek armor and organization over the 
Asiatic, notwithstanding former reverses. Above all, he felt 
and worthily trusted the enthusiasm of the men under his 
command. 

The Athenians, whom he led, had proved by their new- 
born valor in recent wars against the neighboring states, that 
" Liberty and Equality of civic rights are brave, spirit-stirring 
things ; and they who, while under the yoke of a despot,^had 
been no better men of war than any of their neighbors, as 
soon as they were free, became the foremost men of all ; for 
each felt that in fighting for a free commonwealth he fought 
for himself, and, whatever he took in hand, he was zealous to 
do the work thoroughly." So the nearly contemporaneous 
historian describes the change of spirit that was seen in the 
Athenians after their tyrants were expelled ; and Miltiades 
knew that in leading them against the invading army, where 
they had Hippias, the foe they most hated, before them, 
he was bringing into battle no ordinary men, and could 
calculate on no ordinary heroism. As for traitors, he was 
sure that, whatever treachery might lurk among some of the 
higher-born and wealthier Athenians, the rank and file whom 
he commanded were ready to do their utmost in his and their 



490 B.C.] BATTLE OF MARATHON 21 

own cause. With regard to future attacks from Asia, he 
might reasonably hope that one victory would inspirit all 
Greece to combine against the common foe ; and that the 
latent seeds of revolt and disunion in the Persian empire 
would soon burst forth and paralyze its energies, so as to 
leave Greek independence secure. 

With these hopes and risks, Miltiades, on the afternoon of 
a September day, 490 B.C., gave the word for the Athenian 
army to prepare for battle. There were many local associa- 
tions connected with those mountain heights which were cal- 
culated powerfully to excite the spirits of the men, and of 
which the commanders well knew how to avail themselves 
in their exhortations to their troops before the encounter. 
Marathon itself was a region sacred to Hercules. Close to 
them was the fountain of Macaria, who had in days of yore 
devoted herself to death for the liberty of her people. The 
very plain on which they were to fight was the scene of the 
exploits of their national hero, Theseus ; and there, too, as old 
legends told, the Athenians and the Heraclidae had routed the 
invader, Eurystheus. These traditions were not mere cloudy 
myths or idle fictions, but matters of implicit, earnest faith to 
the men of that day ; and many a fervent prayer arose from 
the Athenian ranks to the heroic spirits who, while on earth, 
had striven and suffered on that very spot, and who were be- 
lieved to be now heavenly powers, looking down with interest 
on their still beloved country, and capable of interposing with 
superhuman aid in its behalf. 

According to old national custom, the warriors of each tribe 
were arrayed together ; neighbor thus fighting by the side of 
neighbor, friend by friend, and the spirit of emulation and the 
consciousness of responsibility excited to the very utmost. 
The War Ruler, Callimachus, had the leading of the right 
wing ; the Plataeans formed the extreme left ; and Themis- 
tocles and Aristides commanded the center. The line con- 
sisted of the heavy-irmed spearmen only. For the Greeks 
(until the time of Iphicrates) took little or no account of light- 
armed soldiers in a pitched battle, using them only in skir- 
mishes or for the pursuit of a defeated enemy. The panoply 
of the regular infantry consisted of a long spear, of a shield, 
and of helmet, breastplate, greaves, and short sword. Thus 



22 DECISIVE BATTLES [490 B.C. 

equipped, they usually advanced slowly and steadily into 
action in a uniform phalanx of about eight spears deep. But 
the military genius of Miltiades led him to deviate on this 
occasion from the commonplace tactics of his countrymen. 
It was essential for him to extend his line so as to cover all 
the practicable ground, and to secure himself from being out- 
flanked and charged in the rear by the Persian horse. This 
extension involved the weakening of his line. Instead of a 
uniform reduction of its strength, he determined on detaching 
principally from his center, which, from the nature of the 
ground, would have the best opportunities for rallying if 
broken ; and on strengthening his wings, so as to insure 
advantage at those points ; and he trusted to his own skill, 
and to his soldiers' discipline, for the improvement of that 
advantage into decisive victory.^ 

In this order, and availing himself probably of the inequali- 
ties of the ground, so as to conceal his preparations from the 
enemy till the last possible moment, Miltiades drew up the 
eleven thousand infantry whose spears were to decide this crisis 
in the struggle between the European and the Asiatic worlds. 
The sacrifices by which the favor of Heaven was sought, and 
its will consulted, were announced to show propitious omens. 
The trumpet sounded for action, and, chanting the hymn of 
battle, the little army bore down upon the host of the foe. 
Then, too, along the mountain slopes of Marathon must have 
resounded the mutual exhortation which yEschylus, who 
fought in both battles, tells us was afterwards heard over 
the waves of Salamis — " On, sons of the Greeks ! Strike for 
the freedom of your country ! strike for the freedom of your 
children and of your wives — for the shrines of your fathers' 
gods, and for the sepulchers of your sires. All — all are now 
staked upon the strife ! " 

Instead of advancing at the usual slow pace of the pha- 
lanx, Miltiades brought his men on at a run. They were all 
trained in the exercises of the palestra, so that there was no 
fear of their ending the charge in breathless exhaustion ; and 
it was of the deepest importance for him to traverse as 
rapidly as possible the space of about a mile of level ground 
that lay between the mountain foot and the Persian outposts, 
and so to get his troops into close action before the Asiatic 



490 B.C.] BATTLE OF MARATHON 23 

cavalry could mount, form, and maneuver against him, or 
their archers keep him long under bow-shot, and before the 
enemy's generals could fairly deploy their masses. 

"When the Persians," says Herodotus, "saw the Athenians 
running down on them, without horse or bowmen, and scanty 
in numbers, they thought them a set of madmen rushing 
upon certain destruction." They began, however, to prepare 
to receive them, and the Eastern chiefs arrayed, as quickly 
as time and place allowed, the varied races who served in 
their motley ranks. Mountaineers from Hyrcania and 
Afghanistan, wild horsemen from the steppes of Khorassan, 
the black archers of Ethiopia, swordsmen from the banks of 
the Indus, the Oxus, the Euphrates, and the Nile, made 
ready against the enemies of the Great King. But no 
national cause inspired them, except the division of native 
Persians ; and in the large host there was no uniformity of 
language, creed, race, or military system. Still, among them 
there were many gallant men, under a veteran general ; they 
were familiarized with victory ; and in contemptuous con- 
fidence their infantry, which alone had time to form, awaited 
the Athenian charge. On came the Greeks, with one un- 
wavering line of leveled spears, against which the light 
targets, the short lances, and the simitars of the Orientals 
offered weak defense. The front rank of the Asiatics must 
have gone down to a man at the first shock. Still they re- 
coiled not, but strove by individual gallantry, and by the 
weight of numbers, to make up for the disadvantages of 
weapons and tactics, and to bear back the shallow line of the 
Europeans. In the center, where the native Persians and 
Sacae fought, they succeeded in breaking through the weaker 
part of the Athenian phalanx ; and the tribes led by Aristides 
and Themistocles were, after a brave resistance, driven back 
over the plain, and chased by the Persians up the valley 
towards the inner country. There the nature of the ground 
gave the opportunity of rallying and renewing the struggle ; 
and, meanwhile, the Greek wings, where Miltiades had con- 
centrated his chief strength, had routed the Asiatics opposed 
to them ; and the Athenian and Plataean officers, instead of 
pursuing the fugitives, kept their troops well in hand, and 
wheeling round they formed the two wings together. Miltia- 



24 DECISIVE BATTLES [49° B.C. 

des instantly led them against the Persian center, which had 
hitherto been triumphant, but which now fell back and pre- 
pared to encounter these new and unexpected assailants. 
Aristides and Themistocles renewed the fight with their re- 
organized troops, and the full force of the Greeks was brought 
into close action with the Persian and Sacian divisions of 
the enemy. Datis's veterans strove hard to keep their 
ground, and evening^ was approaching before the stern en- 
counter was decided. 

But the Persians, with their slight wicker shields, destitute 
of body armor, and never taught by training to keep the even 
front and act with the regular movement of the Greek 
infantry, fought at grievous disadvantage with their shorter 
and feebler weapons against the compact array of well-armed 
Athenian and Plataean spearmen, all perfectly drilled to per- 
form each necessary evolution in concert, and to preserve a 
uniform and unwavering line in battle. In personal courage 
and in bodily activity the Persians were not inferior to their 
adversaries. Their spirits were not yet cowed by the recol- 
lection of former defeats; and they lavished their lives freely 
rather than forfeit the fame which they had won by so many 
victories. While their rear ranks poured an incessant shower 
of arrows over the heads of their comrades, the foremost 
Persians kept rushing forward, sometimes singly, some- 
times in desperate groups of twelve or ten, upon the pro- 
jecting spears of the Greeks, striving to force a lane into 
the phalanx, and to bring their simitars and daggers into 
play. But the Greeks felt their superiority, and though 
the fatigue of the long-continued action told heavily on 
their inferior numbers, the sight of the carnage that they 
dealt among their assailants nerved them to fight still more 
fiercely on. 

At last the previously unvanquished lords of Asia turned 
their backs and fled, and the Greeks followed, striking them 
down, to the water's edge,'^ where the invaders were now 
hastily launching their galleys, and seeking to embark and 
fly. Flushed with success, the Athenians dashed at the fleet. 
" Bring fire, bring fire," was their cry ; and they began to lay 
hold of the ships. But here the Asiatics resisted desperately, 
and the principal loss sustained by the Greeks was in the as- 



490 B.C.] BATTLE OF MARATHON 25 

sault on the fleet. Here fell the brave War Ruler Callimachus, 
the general Stesilaus, and other Athenians of note. Conspicu- 
ous among them was Cynaegeirus, the brother of the tragic poet 
./Eschylus. He had grasped the ornamental work on the stern 
of one of the galleys, and had his hand struck off by an ax. 
Seven galleys were captured ; but the Persians succeeded in 
saving the rest. They pushed off from the fatal shore ; but 
even here the skill of Datis did not desert him, and he sailed 
round to the western coast of Attica, in hopes to find the city 
unprotected, and to gain possession of it from some of the 
partisans of Hippias. Miltiades, however, saw and counter- 
acted his maneuver. Leaving Aristides, and the troops of 
his tribe, to guard the spoil and the slain, the Athenian com- 
mander led his conquering army by a rapid night march back 
across the country to Athens. And when the Persian fleet 
had doubled the Cape of Sunium and sailed up to the Athe- 
nian harbor in the morning, Datis saw arrayed on the heights 
above the city the troops before whom his men had fled on the 
preceding evening. All hope of further conquest in Europe 
for the time was abandoned, and the baffled armada returned 
to the Asiatic coasts. 

After the battle had been fought, but while the dead bodies 
were yet on the ground, the promised reenforcement from 
Sparta arrived. Two thousand Lacedaemonian spearmen, 
starting immediately after the full moon, had marched the 
hundred and fifty miles between Athens and Sparta in the 
wonderfully short time of three days. Though too late to 
share in the glory of the action, they requested to be allowed 
to march to the battle-field to behold the Medes. They pro- 
ceeded thither, gazed on the dead bodies of the invaders, and 
then, praising the Athenians and what they had done, they 
returned to Lacedaemon. 

The number of the Persian dead was six thousand four hun- 
dred ; of the Athenians, a hundred and ninety-two. The num- 
ber of Plataeans who fell is not mentioned, but as they fought 
in the part of the army which was not broken, it cannot have 
been large. 

The apparent disproportion between the losses of the two 
armies is not surprising, when we remember the armor of the 
Greek spearmen, and the impossibility of heavy slaughter 



26 DECISIVE BATTLES [490 B.C. 

being inflicted by sword or lance on troops so armed, as long 
as they kept firm in their ranks.^ 

The Athenian slain were buried on the field of battle. This 
was contrary to the usual custom, according to which the bones 
of all who fell fighting for their country in each year were de- 
posited in a public sepulcher in the suburb of Athens called 
the Cerameicus. But it was felt that a distinction ought to 
be made in the funeral honors paid to the men of Marathon, 
even as their merit had been distinguished over that of all 
other Athenians. A lofty mound was raised on the plain of 
Marathon, beneath which the remains of the men of Athens 
who fell in the battle were deposited. Ten columns were 
erected on the spot, one for each of the Athenian tribes; and 
on the monumental column of each tribe were graven the names 
of those of its members whose glory it was to have fallen in 
the great battle of liberation. The antiquary Pausanias read 
those names there six hundred years after the time when they 
were first graven.^ The columns have long perished, but the 
mound still marks the spot where the noblest heroes of antiquity, 
the Marat Jionomachoi, repose. 

A separate tumulus was raised over the bodies of the slain 
Plataeans, and another over the light-armed slaves who had 
taken part and had fallen in the battle.^*^ There was also a 
distinct sepulchral monument to the general to whose genius 
the victory was mainly due. Miltiades did not live long after 
his achievement at Marathon, but he lived long enough to expe- 
rience a lamentable reverse of his popularity and good fortune. 
As soon as the Persians had quitted the western coasts of the 
^gean, he proposed to an assembly of the Athenian people 
that they should fit out seventy galleys, with a proportionate 
force of soldiers and military stores, and place them at his 
disposal ; not telling them whither he meant to proceed, but 
promising them that, if they would equip the force he asked 
for, and give him discretionary powers, he would lead it to a 
land where there was gold in abundance to be won with ease. 
The Greeks at that time believed in the existence of Eastern 
realms teeming with gold as firmly as the Europeans of the 
sixteenth century believed in an Eldorado of the West. The 
Athenians probably thought that the recent victor of Mara- 
thon and former officer of Darius was about to guide them on 



490 B.C.J BATTLE OF MARATHON 27" 

a secret expedition against some wealthy and unprotected cities 
of treasure in the Persian dominions. The armament was voted 
and equipped, and sailed eastward from Attica, no one but 
Miltiades knowing its destination, until the Greek isle of Paros 
was reached, when his true object appeared. In former years, 
while connected with the Persians as prince of the Chersonese, 
Miltiades had been involved in a quarrel with one of the lead- 
ing men among the Parians, who had injured his credit and 
caused some slights to be put upon him at the court of the 
Persian satrap, Hydarnes. The feud had ever since rankled 
in the heart of the Athenian chief, and he now attacked Paros 
for the sake of avenging himself on his ancient enemy. His 
pretext, as general of the Athenians, was that the Parians 
had aided the armament of Datis with a war galley. The 
Parians pretended to treat about terms of surrender, but used 
the time which they thus gained in repairing the defective 
parts of the fortifications of their city ; and they then set the 
Athenians at defiance. So far, says Herodotus, the accounts 
of all the Greeks agree. But the Parians, in after years, told 
also a wild legend, how a captive priestess of a Parian tem- 
ple of the deities of the earth promised Miltiades to give him 
the means of capturing Paros : how, at her bidding, the Athe- 
nian general went alone at night and forced his way into a 
holy shrine near the city gate, but with what purpose it was 
not known : how a supernatural awe came over him, and in 
his flight he fell and fractured his leg : how an oracle after- 
wards forbade the Parians to punish the sacrilegious and trai- 
torous priestess, " because it was fated that Miltiades should 
come to an ill end, and she was only the instrument to lead 
him to evil." Such was the tale that Herodotus heard at 
Paros. Certain it was that Miltiades either dislocated or 
broke his leg during an unsuccessful siege of that city, and 
returned home in evil plight with his baffled and defeated 
forces. 

The indignation of the Athenians was proportionate to the 
hope and excitement which his promises had raised. Xanthip- 
pus, the head of one of the first families in Athens, indicted him 
before the supreme popular tribunal for the capital offense 
of having deceived the people. His guilt was undeniable, 
and the Athenians passed their verdict accordingly. But the 



28 DECISIVE BATTLES [490 B.C. 

recollections of Lemnos and Marathon and the sight of the 
fallen general, who lay stretched on a couch before them, 
pleaded successfully in mitigation of punishment, and the 
sentence was commuted from death to a fine of fifty talents. 
This was paid by his son, the afterwards illustrious Cimon, 
Miltiades dying, soon after the trial, of the injury which he 
had received at Paros.^^ 

The melancholy end of Miltiades, after his elevation to such 
a height of power and glory, must often have been recalled to 
the mind of the ancient Greeks by the sight of one, in partic- 
ular, of the memorials of the great battle which he Won. This 
was the remarkable statue (minutely described by Pausanias) 
which the Athenians, in the time of Pericles, caused to be 
hewn out of a huge block of marble, which, it was believed, 
had been provided by Datis to form a trophy of the antici- 
pated victory of the Persians. Phidias fashioned out of this 
a colossal image of the goddess Nemesis, the deity whose 
peculiar function was to visit the exuberant prosperity both 
of nations and individuals with sudden and awful reverses. 
This statue was placed in a temple of the goddess at Rhamnus, 
about eight miles from Marathon. Athens herself contained 
numerous memorials of her primary great victory. Panenus, 
the cousin of Phidias, represented it in fresco on the walls of 
the painted porch ; and, centuries afterwards, the figures of 
Miltiades and Callimachus at the head of the Athenians were 
conspicuous in the fresco. The tutelary deities were exhib- 
ited taking part in the fray. In the background were seen 
the Phoenician galleys ; and nearer to the spectator the Athe- 
nians and Plataeans (distinguished by their leathern helmets) 
were chasing routed Asiatics into the marshes and the sea. 
The battle was sculptured, also, on the Temple of Victory in the 
Acropolis; and even now there may be traced on the frieze the 
figures of the Persian combatants with their lunar shields, their 
bows and quivers, their curved simitars, their loose trousers, 
and Phrygian tiaras. 

These and other memorials of Marathon were the produce 
of the meridian age of Athenian intellectual splendor — of the 
age of Phidias and Pericles. For it was not merely by the 
generation of men whom the battle liberated from Hippias and 
the Medes that the transcendent importance of their victory 



490 B.C.] BATTLE OF MARATHON 29 

was gratefully recognized. Through the whole epoch of her 
prosperity, through the long Olympiads of her decay, through 
centuries after her fall, Athens looked back on the day of 
Marathon as the brightest of her national existence. 

By a natural blending of patriotic pride with grateful piety, 
the very spirits of the Athenians who fell at Marathon were 
deified by their countrymen. The inhabitants of the districts 
of Marathon paid religious rites to them, and orators solemnly 
invoked them in their most impassioned adjurations before 
the assembled men of Athens. " Nothing was omitted that 
could keep alive the remembrance of a deed which had first 
taught the Athenian people to know its own strength by meas- 
uring it with the power which had subdued the greater part of 
the known world. The consciousness thus awakened fixed its 
character, its station, and its destiny ; it was the spring of its 
later great actions and ambitious enterprises." [Thirl wall.] 

It was not, indeed, by one defeat, however signal, that the 
pride of Persia could be broken and her dreams of universal 
empire be dispelled. Ten years afterwards she renewed her 
attempts upon Europe on a grander scale of enterprise, and 
was repulsed by Greece with greater and reiterated loss. 
Larger forces and heavier slaughter than had been seen at 
Marathon signalized the conflicts of Greeks and Persians at 
Artemisium, Salamis, Plataea, and the Eurymedon. But, 
mighty and momentous as these battles were, they rank not 
with Marathon in importance. They originated no new im- 
pulse. They turned back no current of fate. They were 
merely confirmatory of the already existing bias which Mara- 
thon had created. The day of Marathon is the critical epoch 
in the history of the two nations. It broke forever the spell 
of Persian invincibility which had paralyzed men's minds. It 
generated among the Greeks the spirit which beat back Xer- 
xes, and afterwards led on Xenophon, Agesilaus, and Alex- 
ander, in terrible retaliation, through their Asiatic campaigns. 
It secured for mankind the intellectual treasures of Athens, 
the growth of free institutions, the liberal enlightenment of 
the Western world, and the gradual ascendency for many 
ages of the great principles of European civilization. 



30 DECISIVE BATTLES [490 B.C. 

Notes 

^ The historians who lived long after the time of the battle, such as 
Justin, Plutarch, and others, give ten thousand as the number of the Athe- 
nian army. Not much reliance could be placed on their authority if unsup- 
ported by other evidence ; but a calculation made from a number of the 
Athenian free population remarkably confirms it. Some Metoikoi probably 
served as Hoplites at Marathon, but the number of resident aliens at Athens 
cannot have been large at this period. 

^ Mr. Grote observes that " this volunteer march of the vi^hole Plataean 
force to Marathon is one of the most affecting incidents of all Grecian his- 
tory." In truth, the whole career of Plataea, and the friendship, strong even 
unto death, between her and Athens, form one of the most affecting episodes 
in the history of antiquity. In the Peloponnesian war the Plataeans again 
were true to the Athenians against all risks and all calculation of self- 
interest ; and the destruction of Plataea was the consequence. There are 
few nobler passages in the classics than the speech in which the Plataean 
prisoners of war, after the memorable siege of their city, justify before their 
Spartan executioners their loyal adherence to Athens. 

3 At the battle of Plataea, eleven years after Marathon, each of the eight 
thousand Athenian regular infantry who served there was attended by a 
light-armed slave. 

* ^schines in Ctes. ^schines is speaking of Xerxes, but Mitford is 
probably right in considering it as the style of the Persian kings in their 
proclamations. In one of the inscriptions at Persepolis, Darius terms 
himself" Darius the great king, king of kings, the king of the many peopled 
countries, the supporter also of this great world." In another, he styles 
himself "the king of all inhabited countries." 

^ It is remarkable that there is no other instance of a Greek general 
deviating from the ordinary mode of bringing a phalanx of spearmen into 
action, until the battles of Leuctra and Mantineia, more than a century after 
Marathon, when Epaminondas introduced the tactics (which Alexander the 
Great in ancient times, and Frederick the Great in modern times, made so 
famous) of concentrating an overpowering force on some decisive point of 
the enemy's line, while he kept back, or, in military phrase, refused the 
weaker part of his own. 

^ See the description, in the 62d section of the ninth book of Herodotus, 
of the gallantry shown by the Persian infantry against the Lacedaemonians 
at Plataea. We have no similar detail of the fight at Marathon, but we 
know that it was long and obstinately contested, and the spirit of the Per- 
sians must have been even higher at Marathon than at Plataea. In both 
battles it was only the true Persians and the Sacze who showed this valor ; 
the other Asiatics fled like sheep. 

■^ " The flying Mede, his shaftless broken bow ; 
The fiery Greek, his red pursuing spear ; 
Mountains above. Earth's, Ocean's plain below, 
Death in the front. Destruction in the rear ! 
Such was the scene." — Byron's Childe Harold. 



490B.C.] BATTLE OF MARATHON 3 1 

8 Mitford well refers to Crecy, Poitiers, and Agincourt, as instances of 
similar disparity of loss between the conquerors and the conquered. 

^ Pausanias states, with implicit belief, that the battle-field was haunted 
at night by supernatural beings, and that the noise of combatants and the 
snorting of horses were heard to resound on it. The superstition has sur- 
vived the change of creeds, and the shepherds of the neighborhood still 
believe that spectral warriors contend on the plain at midnight, and they 
say that they have heard the shouts of the combatants and the neighing of 
the steeds. 

^•^ It is probable that the Greek light-armed irregulars were active in the 
attack on the Persian ships, and it was in this attack that the Greeks suf- 
fered their principal loss. 

^1 The commonplace calumnies against the Athenians respecting Mil- 
tiades have been well answered by Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton in his " Rise 
and Fall of Athens," and Bishop Thirlwall, in the second volume of his 
"History of Greece" ; but they have received their most complete refutation 
from Mr. Grote, in the fourth volume of his History. I quite concur with 
him that, "looking to the practise of the Athenian dicastery in criminal 
cases, fifty talents was the minor penalty actually proposed by the defenders 
of Miltiades themselves as a substitute for the punishment of death. In 
those penal cases at Athens where the punishment was not fixed beforehand 
by the terms of the law, if the person accused was found guilty it was cus- 
tomary to submit to the jurors, subsequently and separately, the question as 
to the amount of punishment. First, the accuser named the penalty which 
he thought suitable ; next, the accused person was called upon to name an 
amount of penalty for himself, and the jurors were constrained to take their 
choice between these two ; no third gradation of penalty being admissible 
for consideration. Of course, under such circumstances, it was the interest 
of the accused party to name, even in his own case, some real and serious 
penalty, something which the jurors might be likely to deem not wholly 
inadequate to his crime just proved ; for if he proposed some penalty only 
trifling, he drove them to prefer the heavier sentence recommended by his 
opponent." The stories of Miltiades having been cast into prison and 
dying there, and of his having been saved from death only by the inter- 
position of the Prytanis of the day, are, I think, rightly rejected by Mr. 
Grote as the fictions of after ages. The silence of Herodotus respecting 
them is decisive. It is true that Plato, in the "Gorgias," says that the 
Athenians passed a vote to throw Miltiades into the Barathrum, and speaks 
of the interposition of the Prytanis in his favor ; but it is to be remembered 
that Plato, with all his transcendent genius, was (as Niebuhr has termed 
him) a very indifferent patriot, who loved to blacken the character of his 
country's democratic institutions ; and if the fact was that the Prytanis, at 
the trial of Miltiades, opposed the vote of capital punishment, and spoke in 
favor of the milder sentence, Plato (in a passage written to show the mis- 
fortunes which befell Athenian statesmen) would readily exaggerate this 
fact into the story that appears in his text. 



32 DECISIVE BATTLES [490 B.C. 

Explanatory Remarks on Some of the Circumstances 
OF THE Battle of Marathon 

Nothing is said by Herodotus of the Persian cavalry tak- 
ing any part in the battle, although he mentions that Hippias 
recommended the Persians to land at Marathon, because the 
plain was favorable for cavalry evolutions. In the life of 
Miltiades, which is usually cited as the production of Cor- 
nelius Nepos, but which I believe to be of no authority what- 
ever, it is said that Miltiades protected his flanks from the 
enemy's horse by an abattis of felled trees. While he was on 
the high ground he would not have required this defense ; 
and it is not likely that the Persians would have allowed him 
to erect it on the plain. 

Bishop Thirlwall calls our attention to a passage in Suidas, 
where the proverb CJioris Hippeis is said to have originated 
from some Ionian Greeks, who were serving compulsorily 
in the army of Datis, contriving to inform Miltiades that the 
Persian cavalry had gone away, whereupon Miltiades immedi- 
ately joined battle and gained the victory. There may prob- 
ably be a gleam of truth in this legend. If Datis's cavalry 
was numerous, as the abundant pastures of Euboea were 
close at hand, the Persian general, when he thought, from 
the inaction of his enemy, that they did not mean to come 
down from the heights and give battle, might naturally send 
the larger part of his horse back across the channel to the 
neighborhood of Eretria, where he had already left a detach- 
ment, and where his military stores must have been deposited. 
The knowledge of such a movement would of course confirm 
Miltiades in his resolution to bring on a speedy engagement. 

But, in truth, whatever amount of cavalry we suppose 
Datis to have had with him on the day of Marathon, their 
inaction in the battle is intelligible, if we believe the attack 
of the Athenian spearmen to have been as sudden as it was 
rapid. The Persian horse-soldier, on an alarm being given, 
had to take the shackles off his horse, to strap the saddle on, 
and bridle him, besides equipping himself ; and when each 
individual horseman was ready, the line had to be formed ; 
and the time that it takes to form the Oriental cavalry in line 
for a charge has, in all ages, been observed by Europeans. 



490 B.C.] BATTLE OF MARATHON 33 

The wet state of the marshes at each end of the plain, in 
the time of year when the battle was fought, has been ad-- 
verted to by Mr. Wordsworth ; and this would hinder the 
Persian general from arranging and employing his horsemen 
on his extreme wings, while it also enabled the Greeks, as 
they came forward, to occupy the whole breadth of the prac- 
ticable ground with an unbroken line of leveled spears, against 
which, if any Persian horse advanced, they would be driven 
back in confusion upon their own foot. 

Even numerous and fully arrayed bodies of cavalry have 
been repeatedly broken, both in ancient and modern warfare, 
by resolute charges of infantry. For instance, it was by an 
attack of some picked cohorts that Caesar routed the Pompeian 
cavalry, which had previously defeated his own at Pharsalia. 

I have represented the battle of Marathon as beginning in 
the afternoon and ending towards evening. If it had lasted 
all day, Herodotus would have probably mentioned that fact. 
That it ended towards evening is, I think, proved by a line 
from the " Vespae " to which my attention was called by Sir 
Edward Bulwer-Lytton's account of the battle. I think that the 
succeeding lines in Aristophanes justify the description which I 
have given of the rear ranks of the Persians keeping up a flight 
of arrows over the heads of their comrades against the Greeks. 

Synopsis of Events between the Battle of Marathon, 
490 B.C., AND the Defeat of the Athenians at Syra- 
cuse, 413 B.C. 

490 to 487 B.C. All Asia is filled with the preparations 
made by King Darius for a new expedition against Greece. 
Themistocles persuades the Athenians to leave off dividing 
the proceeds of their silver mines among themselves, and to 
employ the money in strengthening their navy. 

487. Egypt revolts from the Persians, and delays the ex- 
pedition against Greece. 

485. Darius dies, and Xerxes, his son, becomes king of 
Persia in his stead. 

484. The Persians recover Egypt. 

480. Xerxes invades Greece. Indecisive actions between 
the Persian and Greek fleets at Artemisium. Destruction of 



34 DECISIVE BATTLES [490 B.C. 

the three hundred Spartans at Thermopylae. The Athenians 
abandon Attica and go on shipboard. Great naval victory of 
the Greeks at Salamis. Xerxes returns to Asia, leaving a chosen 
army under Mardonius to carry on the war against the Greeks. 

478. Mardonius and his army destroyed by the Greeks at 
Platasa. The Greeks land in Asia Minor, and defeat a Per- 
sian force at Mycale. In this and the following years the 
Persians lose all their conquests in Europe, and many on the 
coast of Asia. 

477. Many of the Greek maritime states take Athens as 
their leader, instead of Sparta. 

466. Victories of Cimon over the Persians at the Eurym- 
edon. 

464. Revolt of the Helots against Sparta. Third Messe- 
nian war. 

460. Egypt again revolts against Persia. The Athenians 
send a powerful armament to aid the Egyptians, which, after 
gaining some successes, is destroyed, and Egypt submits. 
This war lasted six years. 

457. Wars in Greece between the Athenian and several 
Peloponnesian states. Immense exertions of Athens at this 
time. " There is an original inscription still preserved in the 
Louvre, which attests the energies of Athens at this crisis, 
when Athens, like England in modern wars, at once sought 
conquests abroad and repelled enemies at home. At the 
period we now advert to (457 B.C.), an Athenian armament 
of two hundred galleys was engaged in a bold though unsuc- 
cessful expedition against Egypt. The Athenian crews had 
landed, had won a battle ; they had then reembarked and 
sailed up the Nile, and were busily besieging the Persian 
garrison in Memphis. As the complement of a trireme galley 
was at least two hundred men, we cannot estimate the forces 
then employed by Athens against Egypt at less than forty 
thousand men. At the same time she kept squadrons on the 
coasts of Phoenicia and Cyprus, and yet maintained a home 
fleet that enabled her to defeat her Peloponnesian enemies at 
Cecryphalae and ^gina, capturing in the last engagement 
seventy galleys. This last fact may give us some idea of the 
strength of the Athenian home fleet that gained the victory ; 
and by adopting the same ratio of multiplying whatever num- 



490B.C.] BATTLE OF MARATHON 35 

ber of galleys we suppose to have been employed by two 
hundred, so as to gain the aggregate number of the crews, we 
may form some estimate of the forces which this little Greek 
state then kept on foot. Between sixty and seventy thou- 
sand men must have served in her fleets during that year. 
Her tenacity of purpose was equal to her boldness of enter- 
prise. Sooner than yield or withdraw from any of their ex- 
peditions, the Athenians at this very time, when Corinth sent 
an army to attack their garrison at Megara, did not recall a 
single crew or a single soldier from ^gina or from abroad ; 
but the lads and old men, who had been left to guard the 
city, fought and won a battle against these new assailants. 
The inscription which we have referred to is graven on a 
votive tablet to the memory of the dead, erected in that year 
by the Erecthean tribe, one of the ten into which the Athe- 
nians were divided. It shows, as Thirlwall has remarked, 
' that the Athenians were conscious of the greatness of their 
own effort ' ; and in it this little civic community of the ancient 
world still ' records to us with emphatic simplicity that " its 
slain fell in Cyprus, in Egypt, in Phoenicia, at Haliae, in 
-^gina, and in Megara, in the same year.'" ' " 

455. A thirty years' truce concluded between Athens and 
Lacedaemon. 

440. The Samians endeavor to throw off the supremacy of 
Athens. Samos completely reduced to subjection. Pericles 
is now sole director of the Athenian councils. 

431. Commencement of the great Peloponnesian war, in 
which Sparta, at the head of nearly all the Peloponnesian 
states, and aided by the Boeotians and some of the other 
Greeks beyond the Isthmus, endeavors to reduce the power 
of Athens, and to restore independence to the Greek mari- 
time states who were the subject allies of Athens. At the 
commencement of the war the Peloponnesian armies re- 
peatedly invade and ravage Attica, but Athens herself is 
impregnable, and her fleets secure her the dominion of the 
sea. 

430. Athens visited by a pestilence, which sweeps off large 
numbers of her population. 

425. The Athenians gain great advantages over the Spar- 
tans at Sphacteria, and by occupying Cythera ; but they suffer 



36 DECISIVE BATTLES [490 B.C. 

a severe defeat in Boeotia, and the Spartan general, Brasidas, 
leads an expedition to the Thracian coasts, and conquers 
many of the most valuable Athenian possessions in those 
regions. 

421. Nominal truce for thirty years between Athens and 
Sparta, but hostilities continue on the Thracian coast and in 
other quarters. 

415. The Athenians send an expedition to conquer Sicily. 



413 B.C.] ATHENIAN DEFEAT AT SYRACUSE 37 



CHAPTER II 

Defeat of the Athenians at Syracuse, 413 B.C. 

" The Romans knew not, and could not know, how deeply the greatness 
of their own posterity, and the fate of the whole Western world, were in- 
volved in the destruction of the fleet of Athens in the harbor of Syracuse. 
Had that great expedition proved victorious, the energies of Greece during 
the next eventful century would have found their field in the West no less 
than in the East ; Greece, and not Rome, might have conquered Carthage ; 
Greek instead of Latin might have been at this day the principal element 
of the language of Spain, of France, and of Italy ; and the laws of Athens, 
rather than of Rome, might be the foundation of the law of the civilized 
world." — Arnold. 

" The great expedition to Sicily, one of the most decisive events in the 
history of the world." — Niebuhr. 

FEW cities have undergone more memorable sieges dur- 
ing ancient and medieval times than has the city of 
Syracuse. Athenian, Carthaginian, Roman, Vandal, 
Byzantine, Saracen, and Norman have in turn beleaguered 
her walls ; and the resistance which she successfully opposed 
to some of her assailants was of the deepest importance, not 
only to the fortunes of the generations then in being, but to 
all the subsequent current of human events. To adopt the 
eloquent expressions of Arnold respecting the check which 
she gave to the Carthaginian arms, " Syracuse was a break- 
water which God's providence raised up to protect the yet 
immature strength of Rome." And her triumphant repulse 
of the great Athenian expedition against her was of even 
more wide-spread and enduring importance. It forms a de- 
cisive epoch in the strife for universal empire, in which all the 
great states of antiquity successively engaged and failed. 

The present city of Syracuse is a place of little or no mili- 
tary strength, as the fire of artillery from the neighboring 
heights would almost completely command it. But in ancient 



38 DECISIVE BATTLES [413 B.C. 

warfare its position, and the care bestowed on its walls, ren- 
dered it formidably strong against the means of offense which 
then were employed by besieging armies. 

The ancient city, in the time of the Peloponnesian war, was 
chiefly built on the knob of land which projects into the sea 
on the eastern coast of Sicily, between two bays ; one of 
which, to the north, was called the Bay of Thapsus, while the 
southern one formed the great harbor of the city of Syracuse 
itself. A small island, or peninsula (for such it soon was 
rendered), lies at the southeastern extremity of this knob of 
land, stretching almost entirely across the mouth of the great 
harbor, and rendering it nearly landlocked. This island com- 
prised the original settlement of the first Greek colonists from 
Corinth, who founded Syracuse two thousand five hundred 
years ago ; and the modern city has shrunk again into these 
primary limits. But, in the fifth century before our era, the 
growing wealth and population of the Syracusans had led 
them to occupy and include within their city walls portion 
after portion of the mainland lying next to the little isle ; so 
that at the time of the Athenian expedition the seaward part 
of the land between the two bays already spoken of was built 
over, and fortified from bay to bay, constituting the larger 
part of Syracuse. 

The landward wall, therefore, of the city traversed this 
knob of land, which continues to slope upwards from the sea, 
and which to the west of the old fortifications (that is, towards 
the interior of Sicily) rises rapidly for a mile or two, but 
diminishes in width, and finally terminates in a long, narrow 
ridge, between which and Mount Hybla a succession of 
chasms and uneven low ground extends. On each flank of 
this ridge the descent is steep and precipitous from its sum- 
mits to the strips of level land that lie immediately below it, 
both to the southwest and northwest. 

The usual mode of assailing fortified towns in the time of 
the Peloponnesian war was to build a double wall round them, 
sufficiently strong to check any sally of the garrison from 
within, or any attack of a relieving force from without. The 
interval within the two walls of the circumvallation was roofed 
over, and formed barracks, in which the besiegers posted 
themselves and awaited the effects of want or treachery 



413 B.C.] ATHENIAN DEFEAT AT SYRACUSE 39 

among the besieged in producing a surrender. And in every 
Greek city of those days, as in every Italian republic of the 
Middle Ages, the rage of domestic sedition between aristo- 
crats and democrats ran high. Rancorous refugees swarmed 
in the camp of every invading enemy ; and every blockaded 
city was sure to contain within its walls a body of intriguing 
malcontents, who were eager to purchase a party triumph at 
the expense of a national disaster. Famine and faction were 
the allies on whom besiegers relied. The generals of that 
time trusted to the operation of these sure confederates as 
soon as they could establish a complete blockade. They 
rarely ventured on the attempt to storm any fortified post. 
For the military engines of antiquity were feeble in breaching 
masonry, before the improvements which the first Dionysius 
effected in the mechanics of destruction ; and the lives of 
spearmen, the boldest and most highly trained, would, of 
course, have been idly spent in charges against unshattered 
walls. 

A city built close to the sea, like Syracuse, was impregna- 
ble, save by the combined operations of a superior hostile 
fleet and a superior hostile army. And Syracuse, from her 
size, her population, and her military and naval resources, not 
unnaturally thought herself secure from finding in another 
Greek city a foe capable of sending a sufficient armament to 
menace her with capture and subjection. But in the spring 
of 414 B.C. the Athenian navy was mistress of her harbor and 
the adjacent seas; an Athenian army had defeated her troops, 
and cooped them within the town ; and from bay to bay a 
blockading wall was being rapidly carried across the strips of 
level ground and the high ridge outside the city (then termed 
Epipolae), which, if completed, would have cut the Syracusans 
off from all succor from the interior of Sicily, and have left 
them at the mercy of the Athenian generals. The besiegers' 
works were, indeed, unfinished ; but every day the unfortified 
interval in their lines grew narrower, and with it diminished 
all apparent hope of safety for the beleaguered town. 

Athens was now staking the flower of her forces, and the 
accumulated fruits of seventy years of glory, on one bold 
throw for the dominion of the Western world. As Napoleon 
from Mount Coeur de Lion pointed to St. Jean d'Acre, and 



40 DECISIVE BATTLES [413 B.C. 

told his staff that the capture of that town would decide his 
destiny and would change the face of the world, so the 
Athenian officers, from the heights of Epipolae, must have 
looked on Syracuse and felt that with its fall all the known 
powers of the earth would fall beneath them. They must 
have felt that Athens, if repulsed there, must pause forever 
in her career of conquest, and sink from an imperial republic 
into a ruined and subservient community. 

At Marathon, the first in date of the great battles of the 
world, we beheld Athens struggling for self-preservation 
against the invading armies of the East. At Syracuse she 
appears as the ambitious and oppressive invader of others. 
In her, as in other republics of old and of modern times, the 
same energy that had inspired the most heroic efforts in 
defense of the national independence soon learned to employ 
itself in daring and unscrupulous schemes of self-aggrandize- 
ment at the expense of neighboring nations. In the interval 
between the Persian and Peloponnesian wars she had rapidly 
grown into a conquering and dominant state, the chief of a 
thousand tributary cities, and the mistress of the largest and 
best-manned navy that the Mediterranean had yet beheld. 
The occupation of her territory by Xerxes and Mardonius, in 
the second Persian war, had forced her whole population to 
become mariners ; and the glorious results of that struggle 
confirmed them in their zeal for their country's service at sea. 
The voluntary suffrage of the Greek cities of the coasts and 
islands of the .^gean first placed Athens at the head of the 
confederation formed for the further prosecution of the war 
against Persia. But this titular ascendency was soon con- 
verted by her into practical and arbitrary dominion. She 
protected them from piracy and the Persian power, which 
soon fell into decrepitude and decay ; but she exacted in 
return implicit obedience to herself. She claimed and en- 
forced a prerogative of taxing them at her discretion, and 
proudly refused to be accountable for her mode of expending 
their supplies. Remonstrance against her assessments was 
treated as factious disloyalty ; and refusal to pay was promptly 
punished as revolt. Permitting and encouraging her subject 
allies to furnish all their contingents in money, instead of 
part consisting of ships and men, the sovereign republic 



413 B.C.] ATHENIAN DEFEAT AT SYRACUSE 41 

gained the double object of training her own citizens by con- 
stant and well-paid service in her fleets, and of seeing her 
confederates lose their skill and discipline by inaction, and 
become more and more passive and powerless under her yoke. 
Their towns were generally dismantled, while the imperial 
city herself was fortified with the greatest care and sumptu- 
ousness, the accumulated revenues from her tributaries serv- 
ing to strengthen and adorn to the utmost her havens, her 
docks, her arsenals, her theaters, and her shrines, and to 
array her in that plenitude of architectural magnificence the 
ruins of which still attest the intellectual grandeur of the age 
and people which produced a Pericles to plan and a Phidias 
to execute. 

All republics that acquire supremacy over other nations rule 
them selfishly and oppressively. There is no exception to this 
in either ancient or modern times. Carthage, Rome, Venice, 
Genoa, Florence, Pisa, Holland, and Republican France, all 
tyrannized over every province and subject state where they 
gained authority. But none of them openly avowed their 
system of doing so upon principle with the candor which the 
Athenian republicans displayed when any remonstrance was 
made against the severe exactions which they imposed upon 
their vassal allies. They avowed that their empire was a tyr- 
anny, and frankly stated that they solely trusted to force and 
terror to uphold it. They appealed to what they called " the 
eternal law of nature, that the weak should be coerced by the 
strong." Sometimes they stated, and not without some truth, 
that the unjust hatred of Sparta against themselves forced 
them to be unjust to others in self-defense. To be safe they 
must be powerful ; and to be powerful they must plunder and 
coerce their neighbors. They never dreamed of communicat- 
ing any franchise, or share in office, to their dependents ; but 
jealously monopolized every post of command, and all political 
and judicial power ; exposing themselves to every risk with 
unflinching gallantry ; enduring cheerfully the laborious train- 
ing and severe discipline which their sea-service required ; 
venturing readily on every ambitious scheme ; and never suf- 
fering difficulty or disaster to shake their tenacity of purpose. 
Their hope was to acquire unbounded empire for their country, 
and the means of maintaining each of the thirty thousand 



42 DECISIVE BATTLES [413 b.c. 

citizens who made up the sovereign republic in exclusive de- 
votion to military occupations, and to those brilliant sciences 
and arts in which Athens already had reached the meridian 
of intellectual splendor. 

Her great political dramatist speaks of the Athenian empire 
as comprehending a thousand states. The language of the 
stage must not be taken too literally ; but the number of the 
dependencies of Athens, at the time when the Peloponnesian 
confederacy attacked her, was undoubtedly very great. With 
a few trifling exceptions, all the islands of the ./Egean, and all 
the Greek cities which in that age fringed the coasts of Asia 
Minor, the Hellespont, and Thrace, paid tribute to Athens, and 
implicitly obeyed her orders. The .^gean Sea was an Attic 
lake. Westward of Greece, her influence, though strong, was 
not equally predominant. She had colonies and allies among 
the wealthy and populous Greek settlements in Sicily and 
South Italy, but she had no organized system of confederates 
in those regions ; and her galleys brought her no tribute from 
the Western seas. The extension of her empire over Sicily 
was the favorite project of her ambitious orators and generals. 
While her great statesman Pericles lived, his commanding 
genius kept his countrymen under control, and forbade them 
to risk the fortunes of Athens in distant enterprises while they 
had unsubdued and powerful enemies at their doors. He 
taught Athens this maxim, but he also taught her to know and 
to use her own strength ; and when Pericles had departed, the 
bold spirit which he had fostered overleaped the salutary 
limits which he had prescribed. When her bitter enemies, the 
Corinthians, succeeded, in 431 B.C., in inducing Sparta to 
attack her, and a confederacy was formed of five sixths of the 
Continental Greeks, all animated by anxious jealousy and bitter 
hatred of Athens ; when armies far superior in numbers and 
equipment to those which had marched against the Persians 
were poured into the Athenian territory, and laid it waste to 
the city walls ; the general opinion was that Athens would, in 
two or three years at the farthest, be reduced to submit to the 
requisitions of her invaders. But her strong fortifications, by 
which she was girt and linked to her principal haven, gave her, 
in those ages, almost all the advantages of an insular position. 
Pericles had made her trust to her empire of the seas. Every 



413 B.C.] ATHENIAN DEFEAT AT SYRACUSE 43 

Athenian in those days was a practised seaman. A state in- 
deed whose members, of an age fit for service, at no time 
exceeded thirty thousand, and whose territorial extent did 
not equal half Sussex, could only have acquired such a naval 
dominion as Athens once held, by devoting and zealously train- 
ing all its sons to service in its fleets. In order to man the 
numerous galleys which she sent out, she necessarily employed 
also large numbers of hired mariners and slaves at the oar ; but 
the staple of her crews was Athenian, and all posts of com- 
mand were held by native citizens. It was by reminding them 
of this, of their long practise in seamanship, and the certain 
superiority which their discipline gave them over the enemy's 
marine, that their great minister mainly encouraged them to 
resist the combined power of Lacedaemon and her allies. He 
taught them that Athens might thus reap the fruit of her zeal- 
ous devotion to maritime affairs ever since the invasion of 
the Medes ; " she had not, indeed, perfected herself ; but the 
reward of her superior training was the rule of the sea — a 
mighty dominion, for it gave her the rule of much fair land 
beyond its waves, safe from the idle ravages with which the 
Lacedaemonians might harass Attica, but never could subdue 
Athens." [Thucydides.] 

Athens accepted the war with which her enemies threat- 
ened her rather than descend from her pride of place. And 
though the awful visitation of the plague came upon her and 
swept away more of her citizens than the Dorian spear laid 
low, she held her own gallantly against her foes. If the Pelo- 
ponnesian armies in irresistible strength wasted every spring 
her corn-lands, her vineyards, and her olive groves with fire 
and sword, she retaliated on their coasts with her fleets ; 
which, if resisted, were only resisted to display the preemi- 
nent skill and bravery of her seamen. Some of her subject 
allies revolted, but the revolts were in general sternly and 
promptly quelled. The genius of. one enemy had, indeed, 
inflicted blows on her power in Thrace which she was unable 
to remedy ; but he fell in battle in the tenth year of the war ; 
and with the loss of Brasidas the Lacedaemonians seemed to 
have lost all energy and judgment. Both sides at length 
grew weary of the war ; and in 421 B.C. a truce of fifty years 
was concluded, which, though ill kept, and though many of 



44 DECISIVE BATTLES [413 B.C. 

the confederates of Sparta refused to recognize it, and hos- 
tilities still continued in many parts of Greece, protected the 
Athenian territory from the ravages of enemies, and enabled 
Athens to accumulate large sums out of the proceeds of her 
annual revenues. So also, as a few years passed by, the havoc 
which the pestilence and the sword had made in her popula- 
tion was repaired; and in 415 B.C. Athens was full of bold 
and restless spirits who longed for some field of distant enter- 
prise wherein they might signalize themselves and aggrandize 
the state, and who looked on the alarm of Spartan hostility 
as a mere old woman's tale. When Sparta had wasted their 
territory she had done her worst ; and the fact of its always 
being in her power to do so seemed a strong reason for seek- 
ing to increase the transmarine dominion of Athens. 

The West was now the quarter towards which the thoughts 
of every aspiring Athenian were directed. From the very 
beginning of the war Athens had kept up an interest in 
Sicily ; and her squadrons had from time to time appeared 
on its coasts and taken part in the dissensions in which the 
Sicilian Greeks were universally engaged one against the 
other. There were plausible grounds for a direct quarrel and 
an open attack by the Athenians upon Syracuse. 

With the capture of Syracuse all Sicily, it was hoped, 
would be secured. Carthage and Italy were next to be 
assailed. With large levies of Iberian mercenaries she then 
meant to overwhelm her Peloponnesian enemies. The Per- 
sian monarchy lay in hopeless imbecility, inviting Greek inva- 
sion ; nor did the known world contain the power that seemed 
capable of checking the growing might of Athens, if Syracuse 
once could be hers. 

The national historian of Rome has left us, as an episode of 
his great work, a disquisition on the probable effects that would 
have followed if Alexander the Great had invaded Italy. Pos- 
terity has generally regarded that disquisition as proving Livy's 
patriotism more strongly than his impartiality or acuteness. 
Yet, right or wrong, the speculations of the Roman writer 
were directed to the consideration of a very remote possibility. 
To whatever age Alexander's life might have been prolonged, 
the East would have furnished full occupation for his martial 
ambition, as well as for those schemes of commercial grandeur 



413 B.C.] ATHENIAN DEFEAT AT SYRACUSE 45 

and imperial amalgamation of nations in which the truly great 
qualities of his mind loved to display themselves. With his 
death the dismemberment of his empire among his generals 
was certain, even as the dismemberment of Napoleon's em- 
pire among his marshals would certainly have ensued if he 
had been cut off in the zenith of his power. Rome, also, was 
far weaker when the Athenians were in Sicily than she was 
a century afterwards, in Alexander's time. There can be little 
doubt but that Rome would have been blotted out from the 
independent powers of the West had she been attacked at 
the end of the fifth century B.C. by an Athenian army, largely 
aided by Spanish mercenaries, and flushed with triumphs 
over Sicily and Africa, instead of the collision between her 
and Greece having been deferred until the latter had sunk 
into decrepitude and the Roman Mars had grown into full 
vigor. 

The armament which the Athenians equipped against Syra- 
cuse was in every way worthy of the state which formed such 
projects of universal empire ; and it has been truly termed 
" the noblest that ever yet had been sent forth by a free and 
civilized commonwealth." The fleet consisted of one hundred 
and thirty-four war galleys, with a multitude of store-ships. 
A powerful force of the best heavy-armed infantry that Athens 
and her allies could furnish was sent on board, together with 
a smaller number of slingers and bowmen. The quality of the 
forces was even more remarkable than the number. The zeal 
of individuals vied with that of the republic in giving every 
galley the best possible crew and every troop the most perfect 
accouterments. And with private as well as public wealth 
eagerly lavished on all that could give splendor as well as 
efficiency to the expedition, the fated fleet began its voyage 
for the Sicilian shores in the summer of 415 B.C. 

The Syracusans themselves, at the time of the Pelopon- 
nesian war, were a bold and turbulent democracy, tyrannizing 
over the weaker Greek cities in Sicily, and trying to gain in 
that island the same arbitrary supremacy which Athens main- 
tained along the eastern coast of the Mediterranean. In 
numbers and in spirit they were fully equal to the Athenians, 
but far inferior to them in military and naval discipline. 
When the probability of an Athenian invasion was first pub- 



46 DECISIVE BATTLES [413 B.C. 

licly discussed at Syracuse, and efforts were made by some of 
the wiser citizens to improve the state of the national defenses 
and prepare for the impending danger, the rumors of coming 
war and the proposals for preparation were received by the 
mass of the Syracusans with scornful incredulity. The speech 
of one of their popular orators is preserved to us in Thu- 
cydides, and many of its topics might, by a slight alteration of 
names and details, serve admirably for the party among our- 
selves at present which opposes the augmentation of our 
forces, and derides the idea of our being in any peril from the 
sudden attack of a French expedition. The Syracusan orator 
told his countrymen to dismiss with scorn the visionary terrors 
which a set of designing men among themselves strove to 
excite in order to get power and influence thrown into their 
own hands. He told them that Athens knew her own interest 
too well to think of wantonly provoking their hostility : " Even 
if the enemies were to come,''' said he, ^^ so distant from their 
resources, and opposed to such a power as ours, their destruction 
would be easy and inevitable. Their ships will have enough to 
do to get to our island at all, and to carry such stores of all sorts 
as will be needed. They cannot therefore carry, besides, an 
army large enough to cope with such a population as ours. They 
will have no fortified place frotn which to com.ntence their oper- 
ations ; but must rest them on no better base than a set of 
wretched tents, and such means as the necessities of the moment 
will allow them. But, in truth, I do not believe that they would 
even be able to ejfect a dise^nbarkation. Let us, therefore, set 
at naught these reports as altogether of home manufacture ; and 
be sure that, if any enemy does come, the state zvill know how 
to defend itself in a manner worthy of the national honor.'' 

Such assertions pleased the Syracusan assembly ; and their 
counterparts find favor now among some portions of the Eng- 
lish public. But the invaders of Syracuse came ; made good 
their landing in Sicily; and, if they had promptly attacked 
the city itself, instead of wasting nearly a year in desultory 
operations in other parts of the island, the Syracusans must 
have paid the penalty of their self-sufficient carelessness in 
submission to the Athenian yoke. But of the three generals 
who led the Athenian expedition, two only were men of ability, 
and one was most weak and incompetent. Fortunately for 



413 B.C.] ATHENIAN DEFEAT AT SYRACUSE 47 

Syracuse, Alcibiades, the most skilful of the three, was soon 
deposed from his command by a factious and fanatic vote of 
his fellow countrymen, and the other competent one, Lama- 
chus, fell early in a skirmish ; while, more fortunately still for 
her, the feeble and vacillating Nicias remained unrecalled and 
unhurt, to assume the undivided leadership of the Athenian 
army and fleet, and to mar, by alternate overcaution and 
overcarelessness, every chance of success which the early 
part of the operations offered. Still, even under him, the 
Athenians nearly won the town. They defeated the raw 
levies of the Syracusans, cooped them within the walls, and, 
as before mentioned, almost effected a continuous fortifica- 
tion from bay to bay over Epipolae, the completion of which 
would certainly have been followed by capitulation. 

Alcibiades, the most complete example of genius without 
principle that history produces, the Bolingbroke of antiquity, 
but with high military talents superadded to diplomatic and 
oratorical powers, on being summoned home from his com- 
mand in Sicily to take his trial before the Athenian tribunal, 
had escaped to Sparta ; and he exerted himself there with all 
the selfish rancor of a renegade to renew the war with Athens, 
and to send instant assistance to Syracuse. 

When we read his words in the pages of Thucydides (who 
was himself an exile from Athens at this period, and may 
probably have been at Sparta and heard Alcibiades speak), 
we are at a loss whether most to admire or abhor his subtle 
and traitorous counsels. After an artful exordium, in which 
he tried to disarm the suspicions which he felt must be enter- 
tained of him, and to point out to the Spartans how com- 
pletely his interests and theirs were identified, through hatred 
of the Athenian democracy, he thus proceeded : " Hear me, 
at any rate, on the matters which require your grave atten- 
tion, and which I, from the personal knowledge that I have 
of them, can and ought to bring before you. We Athenians 
sailed to Sicily with the design of subduing, first the Greek 
cities there, and next those in Italy. Then we intended to 
make an attempt on the dominions of Carthage and on Car- 
thage itself.^ If all these projects succeeded (nor did we 
limit ourselves to them in these quarters), we intended to in- 
crease our fleet with the inexhaustible supplies of ship timber 



48 DECISIVE BATTLES [413 B.C. 

which Italy affords, to put in requisition the whole military 
force of the conquered Greek states, and also to hire large 
armies of the barbarians — of the Iberians,^ and others in 
those regions, who are allowed to make the best possible sol- 
diers. The7i, when we had done all this, we intended to assail 
Peloponnesus with our collected force. Our fleets would 
blockade you by sea, and desolate your coasts ; our armies 
would be landed at different points, and assail your cities. 
Some of these we expected to storm,^ and others we meant 
to take by surrounding them with fortified lines. We thought 
that it would thus be an easy matter thoroughly to war you 
down ; and then we should become the masters of the whole 
Greek race. As for expense, we reckoned that each con- 
quered state would give us supplies of money and provisions 
sufficient to pay for its own conquest, and furnish the means 
for the conquest of its neighbors. 

" Such are the designs of the present Athenian expedition 
to Sicily, and you have heard them from the lips of the man 
who, of all men living, is most accurately acquainted with 
them. The other Athenian generals who remain with the 
expedition will endeavor to carry out these plans. And be 
sure that, without your speedy interference, they will all be 
accomplished. The Sicilian Greeks are deficient in military 
training ; but still, if they could be at once brought to com- 
bine in an organized resistance to Athens, they might even 
now be saved. But as for the Syracusans resisting Athens 
by themselves, they have already, with the whole strength of 
their population, fought a battle and been beaten ; they can- 
not face the Athenians at sea ; and it is quite impossible for 
them to hold out against the force of their invaders. And if 
this city falls into the hands of the Athenians, all Sicily is 
theirs, and presently Italy also ; and the danger which I 
warned you of from that quarter will soon fall upon your- 
selves. You must, therefore, in Sicily fight for the safety of 
Peloponnesus. Send some galleys thither instantly. Put men 
on board who can work their own way over, and who, as soon 
as they land, can do duty as regular troops. But, above all, 
let one of yourselves, let a man of Sparta, go over to take the 
chief command, to bring into order and effective discipline 
the forces that are in Syracuse, and urge those who at pres- 



413 B.C.] ATHENIAN DEFEAT AT SYRACUSE 49 

ent hang back to come forward and aid the Syracusans. The 
presence of a Spartan general at this crisis will do more to 
save the city than a whole army." [Thucydides.] The 
renegade then proceeded to urge on them the necessity of 
encouraging their friends in Sicily by showing that they 
themselves were earnest in hostility to Athens. He exhorted 
them not only to march their armies into Attica again, but to 
take up a permanent fortified position in the country ; and 
he gave them in detail information of all that the Athenians 
most dreaded, and how his country might receive the most 
distressing and enduring injury at their hands. 

The Spartans resolved to act on his advice, and appointed 
Gylippus to the Sicilian command. Gylippus was a man who, 
to the national bravery and military skill of a Spartan, united 
political sagacity that was worthy of his great fellow country- 
man Brasidas ; but his merits were debased by mean and 
sordid vice ; and his is one of the cases in which history has 
been austerely just, and where little or no fame has been 
accorded to the successful but venal soldier. But for the 
purpose for which he was required in Sicily, an abler man 
could not have been found in Lacedsemon. His country gave 
him neither men nor money, but she gave him her authority; 
and the influence of her name and of his own talents was 
speedily seen in the zeal with which the Corinthians and other 
Peloponnesian Greeks began to equip a squadron to act under 
him for the rescue of Sicily. As soon as four galleys were 
ready he hurried over with them to the southern coast of Italy ; 
and there, though he received such evil tidings of the state 
of Syracuse that he abandoned all hope of saving that city, 
he determined to remain on the coast, and do what he could 
in preserving the Italian cities from the Athenians. 

So nearly, indeed, had Nicias completed his beleaguering 
lines, and so utterly desperate had the state of Syracuse seem- 
ingly become, that an assembly of the Syracusans was actu- 
ally convened, and they were discussing the terms on which 
they should offer to capitulate, when a galley was seen dash- 
ing into the great harbor, and making her way towards the 
town with all the speed that her rowers could supply. From 
her shunning the part of the harbor where the Athenian fleet 
lay, and making straight for the Syracusan side, it was clear 



50 DECISIVE BATTLES [413 B.C. 

that she was a friend. The enemy's cruisers, careless through 
confidence of success, made no attempt to cut her off ; she 
touched the beach, and a Corinthian captain springing on 
shore from her was eagerly conducted to the assembly of the 
Syracusan people, just in time to prevent the fatal vote being 
put for a surrender. 

Providentially for Syracuse, Gongylus, the commander of 
the galley, had been prevented by an Athenian squadron from 
following Gylippus to South Italy, and he had been obliged 
to push direct for Syracuse from Greece. 

The sight of actual succor, and the promise of more, revived 
the drooping spirits of the Syracusans. They felt that they 
were not left desolate to perish ; and the tidings that a Spar- 
tan was coming to command them confirmed their resolution 
to continue their resistance. Gylippus was already near the 
city. He had learned at Locri that the first report which 
had reached him of the state of Syracuse was exaggerated ; 
and that there was an unfinished space in the besiegers' lines 
through which it was barely possible to introduce reenforce- 
ments into the town. Crossing the straits of Messina, which 
the culpable negligence of Nicias had left unguarded, Gylippus 
landed on the northern coast of Sicily, and there began to 
collect from the Greek cities an army, of which the regular 
troops that he brought from Peloponnesus formed the nucleus. 
Such was the influence of the name of Sparta,* and such were 
his own abilities and activity, that he succeeded in raising 
a force of about two thousand fully armed infantry, with 
a larger number of irregular troops. Nicias, as if infatuated, 
made no attempt to counteract his operations ; nor, when 
Gylippus marched his little army towards Syracuse, did the 
Athenian commander endeavor to check him. The Syracu- 
sans marched out to meet him ; and while the Athenians 
were solely intent on completing their fortifications on the 
southern side towards the harbor, Gylippus turned their 
position by occupying the high ground in the extreme 
rear of Epipolas. He then marched through the unfortified 
interval of Nicias's lines into the besieged town ; and, join- 
ing his troops with the Syracusan forces, after some engage- 
ments with varying success, gained the mastery over Nicias, 
drove the Athenians from Epipolae, and hemmed them into 



413 B.C.] ATHENIAN DEFEAT AT SYRACUSE 5 1 

a disadvantageous position in the low grounds near the great 
harbor. 

The attention of all Greece was now fixed on Syracuse ; and 
every enemy of Athens felt the importance of the opportu- 
nity now offered of checking her ambition, and, perhaps, of 
striking a deadly blow at her power. Large reenforcements 
from Corinth, Thebes, and other cities now reached the Syra- 
cusans; while the baffled and dispirited Athenian general 
earnestly besought his countrymen to recall him, and repre- 
sented the further prosecution of the siege as hopeless. 

But Athens had made it a maxim never to let difficulty or 
disaster drive her back from any enterprise once undertaken, 
so long as she possessed the means of making an effort, how- 
ever desperate, for its accomplishment. With indomitable 
pertinacity she now decreed, instead of recalling her first 
armament from before Syracuse, to send out a second, though 
her enemies near home had now renewed open warfare against 
her, and by occupying a permanent fortification in her terri- 
tory had severely distressed her population, and were press- 
ing her with almost all the hardships of an actual siege. She 
still was mistress of the sea, and she sent forth another fleet 
of seventy galleys, and another army, which seemed to drain 
the very last reserves of her military population, to try if 
Syracuse could not be won, and the honor of the Athenian 
arms be preserved from the stigma of retreat. Hers was, 
indeed, a spirit that might be broken, but never would bend. 
At the head of this second expedition she wisely placed her 
best general, Demosthenes, one of the most distinguished 
ofBcers whom the Peloponnesian war had produced, and who, 
if he had originally held the Sicilian command, would soon 
have brought Syracuse to submission. 

The fame of Demosthenes the general has been dimmed 
by the superior luster of his great countryman, Demosthenes 
the orator. When the name of Demosthenes is mentioned, 
it is the latter alone that is thought of. The soldier has found 
no biographer. Yet out of the long list of the great men 
of the Athenian republic there are few that deserve to stand 
higher than this brave, though finally unsuccessful, leader of 
her fleets and armies in the first half of the Peloponnesian 
war. In his first campaign in ^tolia he had shown some of 



52 DECISIVE BATTLES [413 b.c. 

the rashness of youth, and had received a lesson of caution, 
by which he profited throughout the rest of his career, but 
without losing any of his natural energy in enterprise or in 
execution. He had performed the eminent service of rescuing 
Naupactus from a powerful hostile armament in the seventh 
year of the war ; he had then, at the request of the Acarna- 
nian republic, taken on himself the office of commander-in- 
chief of all their forces, and at their head he had gained some 
important advantages over the enemies of Athens in Western 
Greece. His most celebrated exploits had been the occupation 
of Pylos, on the Messenian coast, the successful defense of 
that place against the fleet and armies of Lacedaemon, and 
the subsequent capture of the Spartan forces on the isle of 
Sphacteria; which was the severest blow dealt to Sparta 
throughout the war, and which had mainly caused her to 
humble herself to make the truce with Athens. Demosthenes 
was as honorably unknown in the war of party politics at 
Athens as he was eminent in the war against the foreign 
enemy. We read of no intrigues of his on either the aristo- 
cratic or democratic side. He was neither in the interest of 
Nicias nor of Cleon. His private character was free from any 
of the stains which polluted that of Alcibiades. On all these 
points the silence of the comic dramatist is decisive evidence 
in his favor. He had also the moral courage, not always 
combined with physical, of seeking to do his duty to his coun- 
try irrespectively of any odium that he himself might incur, 
and unhampered by any petty jealousy of those who were 
associated with him in command. There are few men named 
in ancient history of whom posterity would gladly know more, 
or whom we sympathize with more deeply in the calamities 
that befell them, than Demosthenes, the son of Alcisthenes, 
who, in the spring of the year 413 b.c, left Piraeus at the head 
of the second Athenian expedition against Sicily. 

His arrival was critically timed ; for Gylippus had encour- 
aged the Syracusans to attack the Athenians under Nicias by 
sea as well as by land, and by an able stratagem of Ariston, 
one of the admirals of the Corinthian auxiliary squadron, the 
Syracusans and their confederates had inflicted on the fleet 
of Nicias the first defeat that the Athenian navy had ever 
sustained from a numerically inferior foe. Gylippus was pre- 



413 B.C.] ATHENIAN DEFEAT AT SYRACUSE 53 

paring to follow up his advantage by fresh attacks on the 
Athenians on both elements, when the arrival of Demosthenes 
completely changed the aspect of affairs, and restored the 
superiority to the invaders. With seventy-three war galleys 
in the highest state of efficiency, and brilliantly equipped 
with a force of five thousand picked men of the regular in- 
fantry of Athens and her allies, and a still larger number 
of bowmen, javelin men, and slingers on board, Demosthenes 
rowed round the great harbor with loud cheers and martial 
music, as if in defiance of the Syracusans and their confeder- 
ates. His arrival had indeed changed their newly born hopes 
into the deepest consternation. The resources of Athens 
seemed inexhaustible, and resistance to her hopeless. They 
had been told that she was reduced to the last extremities, 
and that her territory was occupied by an enemy ; and yet, 
here they saw her, as if in prodigality of power, sending forth, 
to make foreign conquests, a second armament, not inferior 
to that with which Nicias had first landed on the Sicilian 
shores. 

With the intuitive decision of a great commander, Demos- 
thenes at once saw that the possession of Epipolae was the 
key to the possession of Syracuse, and he resolved to make a 
prompt and vigorous attempt to recover that position, while 
his force was unimpaired and the consternation which its 
arrival had produced among the besieged remained unabated. 
The Syracusans and their allies had run out an outwork 
along Epipolae from the city walls, intersecting the fortified 
lines of circumvallation which Nicias had commenced, but 
from which they had been driven by Gylippus. Could Demos- 
thenes succeed in storming this outwork, and in reestablish- 
ing the Athenian troops on the high ground, he might fairly 
hope to be able to resume the circumvallation of the city, and 
become the conqueror of Syracuse ; for, when once the be- 
siegers' lines were completed, the number of the troops with 
which Gylippus had garrisoned the place would only tend to 
exhaust the stores of provisions and accelerate its downfall. 

An easily repelled attack was first made on the outwork in 
the daytime, probably more with the view of blinding the 
besieged to the nature of the main operations than with any 
expectation of succeeding in an open assault, with every dis- 



54 DECISIVE BATTLES [413 B.C. 

advantage of the ground to contend against. But when the 
darkness had set in, Demosthenes formed his men in columns, 
each soldier taking with him five days' provisions, and the 
engineers and workmen of the camp following the troops 
with their tools, and all portable implements of fortification, 
so as at once to secure any advantage of ground that the 
army might gain. Thus equipped and prepared, he led his 
men along by the foot of the southern flank of Epipolas, in 
a direction towards the interior of the island, till he came 
immediately below the narrow ridge that forms the extremity 
of the high ground looking westward. He then wheeled his 
vanguard to the right, sent them rapidly up the paths that 
wind along the face of the cliff, and succeeded in completely 
surprising the Syracusan outposts, and in placing his troops 
fairly on the extreme summit of the all-important Epipolae. 
Thence the Athenians marched eagerly down the slope to- 
wards the town, routing some Syracusan detachments that 
were quartered in their way, and vigorously assailing the 
unprotected part of the outwork. All at first favored them. 
The outwork was abandoned by its garrison, and the Athe- 
nian engineers began to dismantle it. In vain Gylippus brought 
up fresh troops to check the assault ; the Athenians broke 
and drove them back, and continued to press hotly forward, 
in the full confidence of victory. But, amid the general con- 
sternation of the Syracusans and their confederates, one body 
of infantry stood firm. This was a brigade of their Boeotian 
allies, which was posted low down the slope of Epipolae, out- 
side the city walls. Coolly and steadily the Boeotian infantry 
formed their line, and, undismayed by the current of flight 
around them, advanced against the advancing Athenians. 
This was the crisis of the battle. But the Athenian van was 
disorganized by its own previous successes ; and, yielding to 
the unexpected charge thus made on it by troops in perfect 
order and of the most obstinate courage, it was driven back 
in confusion upon the other divisions of the army that still 
continued to press forward. When once the tide was thus 
turned, the Syracusans passed rapidly from the extreme of 
panic to the extreme of vengeful daring, and with all their 
forces they now fiercely assailed the embarrassed and reced- 
ing Athenians. In vain did the officers of the latter strive 



413 B.C.] ATHENIAN DEFEAT AT SYRACUSE 55 

to reform their line. Amid the din and the shouting of the 
fight, and the confusion inseparable upon a night engage- 
ment, especially one where many thousand combatants were 
pent and whirled together in a narrow and uneven area, the 
necessary maneuvers were impracticable ; and though many 
companies still fought on desperately, wherever the moonlight 
showed them the semblance of a foe, they fought without con- 
cert of subordination ; and not unfrequently, amid the deadly 
chaos, Athenian troops assailed each other. Keeping their 
ranks close, the Syracusans and their allies pressed on against 
the disorganized masses of the besiegers ; and at length drove 
them, with heavy slaughter, over the cliffs, which, scarce an 
hour before, they had scaled full of hope and apparently cer- 
tain of success. 

This defeat was decisive of the event of the siege. The 
Athenians afterwards struggled only to protect themselves 
from the vengeance which the Syracusans sought to wreak in 
the complete destruction of their invaders. Never, however, 
was vengeance more complete and terrible. A series of sea- 
fights followed, in which the Athenian galleys were utterly 
destroyed or captured. The mariners and soldiers who escaped 
death in disastrous engagements, and in a vain attempt to 
force a retreat into the interior of the island, became prison- 
ers of war. Nicias and Demosthenes were put to death in 
cold blood ; and their men either perished miserably in the 
Syracusan dungeons, or were sold into slavery to the very 
persons whom, in their pride of power, they had crossed the 
seas to enslave. 

All danger from Athens to the independent nations of the 
West was now forever at an end. She, indeed, continued to 
struggle against her combined enemies and revolted allies with 
unparalleled gallantry ; and many more years of varying war- 
fare passed away before she surrendered to their arms. But 
no success in subsequent conquests could ever have restored 
her to the preeminence in enterprise, resources, and maritime 
skill which she had acquired before her fatal reverses in Sic- 
ily. Nor among the rival Greek republics, whom her own 
rashness aided to crush her, was there any capable of reor- 
ganizing her empire or resuming her schemes of conquest. 
The dominion of Western Europe was left for Rome and 



56 DECISIVE BATTLES [413 B.C. 

Carthage to dispute two centuries later, in conflict still more 
terrible, and with even higher displays of military daring and 
genius, than Athens had witnessed either in her rise, her 
meridian, or her fall. 

Notes 

^ Arnold well reminds the reader that Agathocles, with a Greek force far 
inferior to that of the Athenians at this period, did, a century afterwards, 
very nearly conquer Carthage. 

^ It will be remembered that Spanish infantry were the staple of the 
Carthaginian armies. Doubtless Alcibiades and other leading Athenians 
had made themselves acquainted with the Carthaginian system of carrying 
on war, and meant to adopt it. With the marvelous powers which Alcibi- 
ades possessed of ingratiating himself with men of every class and every 
nation, and his high military genius, he would have been as formidable a 
chief of an army oi condottieri as Hannibal afterwards was. 

2 Alcibiades here alluded to Sparta itself, which was unfortified. His 
Spartan hearers must have glanced round them, at these words, with mixed 
alarm and indignation. 

^ The effect of the presence of a Spartan officer on the troops of the other 
Greeks seems to have been like the effect of the presence of an English 
officer upon native Indian troops. 

Synopsis of the Events between the Defeat of the 
Athenians at Syracuse and the Battle of Arbela 

412 B.C. Many of the subject allies of Athens revolt from 
her, on her disasters before Syracuse being known ; the seat 
of war is transferred to the Hellespont and eastern side of the 
.^gean. 

410. The Carthaginians attempt to make conquests in 
Sicily. 

407. Cyrus the Younger is sent by the king of Persia to 
take the government of all the maritime parts of Asia Minor, 
and with orders to help the Lacedaemonian fleet against the 
Athenian. 

406. Agrigentum taken by the Carthaginians. 

405. The last Athenian fleet destroyed by Lysander at 
./Egospotamos. Athens closely besieged. Rise of the power 
of Dionysius at Syracuse. 

404. Athens surrenders. End of the Peloponnesian war. 
The ascendency of Sparta complete throughout Greece. 

403. Thrasybulus, aided by the Thebans and with the con- 



413 B.C.] ATHENIAN DEFEAT AT SYRACUSE S7 

nivance of one of the Spartan kings, liberates Athens from 
the Thirty Tyrants, and restores the democracy. 

401. Cyrus the Younger commences his expedition into 
Upper Asia to dethrone his brother Artaxerxes Mnemon. 
He takes with him an auxiliary force of ten thousand Greeks. 
He is killed in battle at Cunaxa ; and the ten thousand, led by 
Xenophon, effect their retreat in spite of the Persian armies 
and the natural obstacles of their march. 

399. In this, and the five following years, the Lacedaemo- 
nians under Agesilaus and other commanders carry on war 
against the Persian satraps in Asia Minor. 

396. Syracuse is besieged by the Carthaginians, and suc- 
cessfully defended by Dionysius. 

394. Rome makes her first great stride in the career of 
conquest by the capture of Veii. 

393. The Athenian admiral, Conon, in conjunction with 
the Persian satrap, Pharnabazus, defeats the Lacedaemonian 
fleet off Cnidus, and restores the fortifications of Athens. 
Several of the former allies of Sparta in Greece carry on 
hostilities against her. 

388. The nations of Northern Europe now first appear in 
authentic history. The Gauls overrun great part of Italy, 
and burn Rome. Rome recovers from the blow, but her old 
enemies, the ^Equians and Volscians, are left completely 
crushed by the Gallic invaders. 

387. The peace of Antalcidas is concluded among the 
Greeks by the mediation and under the sanction of the Per- 
sian king. 

378 to 361. Fresh wars in Greece. Epaminondas raises 
Thebes to be the leading state of Greece, and the supremacy 
of Sparta is destroyed at the battle of Leuctra. Epaminondas 
is killed in gaining the victory of Mantinea, and the power of 
Thebes falls with him. The Athenians attempt a balancing 
system between Sparta and Thebes. 

359. Philip becomes king of Macedon. 

357. The Social war breaks out in Greece, and lasts three 
years. Its result checks the attempt of Athens to regain her 
old maritime empire. 

356, Alexander the Great is born. 

343. Rome begins her wars with the Samnites : they ex- 



58 DECISIVE BATTLES [413 B.C. 

tend over a period of fifty years. The result of this obstinate 
contest is to secure for her the dominion of Italy. 

340. Fresh attempts of the Carthaginians upon Syracuse. 
Timoleon defeats them with great slaughter. 

338. Philip defeats the confederate armies of Athens and 
Thebes at Chaeronea, and the Macedonian supremacy over 
Greece is firmly established. 

336. Philip is assassinated, and Alexander the Great be- 
comes king of Macedon. He gains several victories over 
the northern barbarians who had attacked Macedonia, and 
destroys Thebes, which, in conjunction with Athens, had 
taken up arms against the Macedonians. 

334. Alexander passes the Hellespont. 



331 B.C.] BATTLE OF ARBELA 59 



CHAPTER III 

The Battle of Arbela, 331 B.C. 

" Alexander deserves the glory which he has enjoyed for so many centu- 
ries and among all nations ; but what if he had been beaten at Arbela, hav- 
ing the Euphrates, the Tigris, and the deserts in the rear, without any strong 
places of refuge, nine hundred leagues from Macedonia?" — Napoleon. 

" Asia beheld with astonishment and awe the uninterrupted progress of 
a hero, the sweep of whose conquests was as wide and rapid as that of her 
own barbaric kings or the Scythian or Chaldaean hordes ; but, far unlike 
the transient whirlwinds of Asiatic warfare, the advance of the Macedonian 
leader was no less deliberate than rapid ; at every step the Greek power 
took root, and the language and the civiHzation of Greece were planted 
from the shores of the ^gean to the banks of the Indus, from the Caspian 
and the great Hyrcanian plain to the cataracts of the Nile ; to exist actually 
for nearly a thousand years, and in their effects to endure forever." — 
Arnold. 

ALONCt and not uninstructive list might be made out 
of illustrious men whose characters have been vindi- 
cated during recent times from aspersions which for 
centuries had been thrown on them. The spirit of modern 
inquiry and the tendency of modern scholarship, both of 
which are often said to be solely negative and destructive, 
have, in truth, restored to splendor, and almost created anew, 
far more than they have assailed with censure, or dismissed 
from consideration as unreal. The truth of many a brilliant 
narrative of brilliant exploits has of late years been trium- 
phantly demonstrated ; and the shallowness of the skeptical 
scoffs with which little minds have carped at the great minds 
of antiquity has been in many instances decisively exposed. 
The laws, the politics, and the lines of action adopted or rec- 
ommended by eminent men and powerful nations have been 
examined with keener investigation, and considered with more 
comprehensive judgment, than formerly were brought to bear 
on these subjects. The result has been at least as often favor- 



6o DECISIVE BATTLES [331 B.C. 

able as unfavorable to the persons and the states so scruti- 
nized ; and many an oft-repeated slander against both meas- 
ures and men has thus been silenced, we may hope, forever. 

The veracity of Herodotus, the pure patriotism of Pericles, 
of Demosthenes, and of the Gracchi, the wisdom of Cleisthenes 
and of Licinius as constitutional reformers, may be mentioned 
as facts which recent writers have cleared from unjust suspi- 
cion and censure. And it might be easily shown that the 
defensive tendency which distinguishes the present and recent 
best historians of Germany, France, and England has been 
equally manifested in the spirit in which they have treated 
the heroes of thought and the heroes of action who lived dur- 
ing what we term the Middle Ages, and whom it was so long 
the fashion to sneer at or neglect. 

The name of the victor of Arbela has led to these reflec- 
tions ; for, although the rapidity and extent of Alexander's 
conquests have through all ages challenged admiration and 
amazement, the grandeur of genius which he displayed in his 
schemes of commerce, civilization, and of comprehensive union 
and unity among nations has, until lately, been comparatively 
unhonored. This long-continued depreciation was of early 
date. The ancient rhetoricians — a class of babblers, a school 
for lies and scandal, as Niebuhr justly termed them — chose 
among the stock themes for their commonplaces the character 
and exploits of Alexander. They had their followers in every 
age ; and until a very recent period, all who wished to " point 
a moral or adorn a tale " about unreasoning ambition, extrava- 
gant pride, and the formidable frenzies of free will when 
leagued with free power, have never failed to blazon forth the 
so-called madman of Macedonia as one of the most glaring 
examples. Without doubt, many of these writers adopted 
with implicit credence traditional ideas, and supposed, with 
uninquiring philanthropy, that in blackening Alexander they 
were doing humanity good service. But also, without doubt, 
many of his assailants, like those of other great men, have 
been mainly instigated by " that strongest of all antipathies, 
the antipathy of a second-rate mind to a first-rate one," and 
by the envy which talent too often bears to genius. 

Arrian, who wrote his history of Alexander when Hadrian 
was emperor of the Roman world, and when the spirit of dec- 



331 B.C.] BATTLE OF ARBELA 6l 

lamation and dogmatism was at its full height, but who was 
himself, unlike the dreaming pedants of the schools, a states- 
man and a soldier of practical and proved ability, well rebuked 
the malevolent aspersions which he heard continually thrown 
upon the memory of the great conqueror of the East. He 
truly says, " Let the man who speaks evil of Alexander not 
merely bring forward those passages of Alexander's life which 
were really evil, but let him collect and review all the actions 
of Alexander, and then let him thoroughly consider first who 
and what manner of man he himself is, and what has been his 
own career ; and then let him consider who and what manner 
of man Alexander was, and to what an eminence of human 
grandeur he arrived. Let him consider that Alexander was 
a king, and the undisputed lord of the two continents ; and 
that his name is renowned throughout the whole earth. Let the 
evil speaker against Alexander bear all this in mind, and then 
let him reflect on his own insignificance, the pettiness of his 
own circumstances and affairs, and the blunders that he makes 
about these, paltry and trifling as they are. Let him then ask 
himself whether he is a fit person to censure and revile such 
a man as Alexander. I believe that there was in his time no 
nation of men, no city — nay, no single individual — with 
whom Alexander's name had not become a familiar word. I 
therefore hold that such a man, who was like no ordinary 
mortal, was not born into the world without some special 
providence."-. 

And one of the most distinguished soldiers and writers of 
our own nation. Sir Walter Raleigh, though he failed to esti- 
mate justly the full merits of Alexander, has expressed his 
sense of the grandeur of the part played in the world by 
"The Great Emathian Conqueror" in language that well 
deserves quotation: — 

" So much hath the spirit of some one man excelled as it 
hath undertaken and effected the alteration of the greatest 
states and commonweals, the erection of monarchies, the con- 
quest of kingdoms and empires, guided handfuls of men 
against multitudes of equal bodily strength, contrived victories 
beyond all hope and discourse of reason, converted the fearful 
passions of his own followers into magnanimity, and the valor 
of his enemies into cowardice ; such spirits have been stirred 



62 DECISIVE BATTLES [331 b.c. 

up in sundry ages of the world, and in divers parts thereof, to 
erect and cast down again, to establish and to destroy, and to 
bring all things, persons, and states to the same certain ends, 
which the infinite spirit of the Universal, piercing, moving, and 
governing all things, hath ordained. Certainly, the things 
that this king did were marvelous, and would hardly have been 
undertaken by any one else; and though his father had 
determined to have invaded the Lesser Asia, it is like that he 
would have contented himself with some part thereof, and 
not have discovered the river Indus, as this man did." 

A higher authority than either Arrian or Raleigh may now 
be referred to by those who wish to know the real merit of 
Alexander as a general, and how far the commonplace asser- 
tions are true, that his successes were the mere results of 
fortunate rashness and unreasoning pugnacity. Napoleon 
selected Alexander as one of the seven greatest generals 
whose noble deeds history has handed down to us, and from 
the study of whose campaigns the principles of war are to be 
learned. The critique of the greatest conqueror of modern 
times on the military career of the great conqueror of the old 
world is no less graphic than true. 

"Alexander crossed the Dardanelles 334 B.C., with an army 
of about forty thousand men, of which one eighth was cav- 
alry ; he forced the passage of the Granicus in opposition 
to an army under Memnon, the Greek, who commanded for 
Darius on the coast of Asia, and he spent the whole of the 
year 333 in establishing his power in Asia Minor. He was 
seconded by the Greek colonists, who dwelt on the borders of 
the Black Sea, and on the Mediterranean, and in Smyrna, 
Ephesus, Tarsus, Miletus, etc. The kings of Persia left their 
provinces and towns to be governed according to their own 
particular laws. Their empire was a union of confederated 
states, and did not form one nation; this facilitated its con- 
quest. As Alexander only wished for the throne of the mon- 
arch, he easily effected the change by respecting the customs, 
manners, and laws of the people, who experienced no change 
in their condition. 

" In the year 332, he met with Darius at the head of sixty 
thousand men, who had taken up a position near Tarsus, on 
the banks of the Issus, in the province of Cilicia. He 



331 B.C.] BATTLE OF ARBELA 63 

defeated him, entered Syria, took Damascus, which contained 
all the riches of the Great King, and laid siege to Tyre. This 
superb metropolis of the commerce of the world detained him 
nine months. He took Gaza after a siege of two months ; 
crossed the desert in seven days ; entered Pelusium and 
Memphis, and founded Alexandria. In less than two years, 
after two battles and four or five sieges, the coasts of the 
Black Sea from Phasis to Byzantium, those of the Mediter- 
ranean as far as Alexandria, all Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt, 
had submitted to his arms. 

" In 33 1 he repassed the desert, encamped in Tyre, recrossed 
Syria, entered Damascus, passed the Euphrates and Tigris, 
and defeated Darius on the field of Arbela, when he was at 
the head of a still stronger army than that which he com- 
manded on the Issus, and Babylon opened her gates to him. 
In 330, he overran Susa, and took that city, Persepolis, and 
Pasargada, which contained the tomb of Cyrus. In 329, he 
directed his course northward, entered Ecbatana, and extended 
his conquests to the coasts of the Caspian ; punished Bessus, 
the cowardly assassin of Darius ; penetrated into Scythia, and 
subdued the Scythians. In 328, he forced the passage of the 
Oxus, received sixteen thousand recruits from Macedonia, and 
reduced the neighboring people to subjection. In 327, he 
crossed the Indus, vanquished Porus in a pitched battle, took 
him prisoner, and treated him as a king. He contemplated 
passing the Ganges, but his army refused. He sailed down 
the Indus, in the year 326, with eight hundred vessels ; hav- 
ing arrived at the ocean, he sent Nearchus with a fleet to run 
along the coasts of the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf, as 
far as the mouth of the Euphrates. In 325, he took sixty 
days in crossing from Gedrosia, entered Keramania, returned 
to Pasargada, Persepolis, and Susa, and married Statira, the 
daughter of Darius. In 324, he marched once more to the 
north, passed Ecbatana, and terminated his career at Babylon." 

The enduring importance of Alexander's conquests is to be 
estimated not by the duration of his own life and empire, or 
even by the duration of the kingdoms which his generals after 
his death formed out of the fragments of that mighty dominion. 
In every region of the world that he traversed, Alexander 
planted Greek settlements, and founded cities, in the popula- 



64 DECISIVE BATTLES [331 b.c. 

tions of which the Greek element at once asserted its pre- 
dominance. Among his successors, the Seleucidae and the 
Ptolemies imitated their great captain in blending schemes of 
civilization, of commercial intercourse, and of literary and 
scientific research with all their enterprises of military ag- 
grandizement, and with all their systems of civil administration. 
Such was the ascendency of the Greek genius, so wonderfully 
comprehensive and assimilating was the cultivation which it 
introduced, that, within thirty years after Alexander crossed 
the Hellespont, the language, the literature, and the arts of 
Hellas, enforced and promoted by the arms of semi-Hellenic 
Macedon, predominated in every country from the shores of 
that sea to the Indian waters. Even sullen Egypt acknowl- 
edged the intellectual supremacy of Greece; and the language 
of Pericles and Plato became the language of the statesmen 
and the sages who dwelt in the mysterious land of the Pyramids 
and the Sphinx. It is not to be supposed that this victory of 
the Greek tongue was so complete as to exterminate the Coptic, 
the Syrian, the Armenian, the Persian, or the other native 
languages of the numerous nations and tribes between the 
^gean, the laxartes, the Indus, and the Nile ; they survived 
as provincial dialects. Each probably was in use as the vul- 
gar tongue of its own district. But every person with the 
slightest pretense to education spoke Greek. Greek was uni- 
versally the state language, and the exclusive language of all 
literature and science. It formed also for the merchant, the 
trader, and the traveller, as well as for the courtier, the gov- 
ernment official, and the soldier, the organ of intercommunica- 
tion among the myriads of mankind inhabiting these large 
portions of the Old World. Throughout Asia Minor, Syria, 
and Egypt, the Hellenic character that was thus imparted 
remained in full vigor down to the time of the Mahometan 
conquests. The infinite value of this to humanity in the 
highest and holiest point of view has often been pointed out ; 
and the workings of the finger of Providence have been 
gratefully recognized by those who have observed how the 
early growth and progress of Christianity were aided by that 
diffusion of the Greek language and civilization throughout 
Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt which had been caused by the 
Macedonian conquest of the East. 



331 B.C.] BATTLE OF ARBELA 65 

In Upper Asia, beyond the Euphrates, the direct and material 
influence of Greek ascendency was more short-lived. Yet 
during the existence of the Hellenic kingdoms in these regions, 
especially of the Greek kingdom of Bactria, the modern Bo- 
khara, very important effects were produced on the intellectual 
tendencies and tastes of the inhabitants of those countries 
and of the adjacent ones by the animating contact of the 
Grecian spirit. Much of Hindoo science and philosophy, 
much of the literature of the later Persian kingdom of the 
Arsacidae, either originated from, or was largely modified 
by, Grecian influences. So, also, the learning and science of 
the Arabians were in a far less degree the result of original 
invention and genius than the reproduction, in an altered 
form, of the Greek philosophy and the Greek lore acquired 
by the Saracenic conquerors together with their acquisition of 
the provinces which Alexander had subjugated nearly a thou- 
sand years before the armed disciples of Mahomet com- 
menced their career in the East. It is well known that 
Western Europe in the Middle Ages drew its philosophy, 
its arts, and its science principally from Arabian teachers. 
And thus we see how the intellectual influence of ancient 
Greece, poured on the Eastern world by Alexander's vic- 
tories, and then brought back to bear on medieval Europe 
by the spread of the Saracenic powers, has exerted its action 
on the elements of modern civilization by this powerful 
though indirect channel, as well as by the more obvious 
effects of the remnants of classic civilization which survived 
in Italy, Gaul, Britain, and Spain after the irruption of the 
Germanic nations. 

These considerations invest the Macedonian triumphs in 
the East with never-dying interest, such as the most showy 
and sanguinary successes of mere "low ambition and the 
pride of kings," however they may dazzle for a moment, can 
never retain with posterity. Whether the old Persian empire, 
which Cyrus founded, could have survived much longer than 
it did, even if Darius had been victorious at Arbela, may 
safely be disputed. That ancient dominion, like the Turkish 
at the present time, labored under every cause of decay and 
dissolution. The satraps, like the modern pashas, continually 
rebelled against the central power ; and Egypt, in particular, 



66 DECISIVE BATTLES [331 B.C. 

was almost always in a state of insurrection against its nomi- 
nal sovereign. There was no longer any effective central 
control, or any internal principle of unity fused through the 
huge mass of the empire and binding it together. Persia was 
evidently about to fall ; but, had it not been for Alexander's 
invasion of Asia, she would most probably have fallen 
beneath some other Oriental power, as Media and Babylon 
had formerly fallen before herself, and as, in after-times, 
the Parthian supremacy gave way to the revived ascendency 
of Persia in the East, under the scepters of the Arsacidae. 
A revolution that merely substituted one Eastern power for 
another would have been utterly barren and unprofitable to 
mankind. 

Alexander's victory at Arbela not only overthrew an Ori- 
ental dynasty, but established European rulers in its stead. 
It broke the monotony of the Eastern world by the impres- 
sion of Western energy and superior civilization ; even as 
England's present mission is to break up the mental and 
moral stagnation of India and Cathay by pouring upon and 
through them the impulsive current of Anglo-Saxon com- 
merce and conquest. 

Arbela, the city which has furnished its name to the deci- 
sive battle that gave Asia to Alexander, lies more than twenty 
miles from the actual scene of conflict. The little village 
then named Gaugamela is close to the spot where the armies 
met, but has ceded the honor of naming the battle to its 
more euphonious neighbor. Gaugamela is situated in one of 
the wide plains that lie between the Tigris and the mountains 
of Kurdistan. A few undulating hillocks diversify the sur- 
face of this sandy track ; but the ground is generally level, 
and admirably qualified for the evolutions of cavalry, and 
also calculated to give the larger of two armies the full 
advantage of numerical superiority. The Persian king (who, 
before he came to the throne, had proved his personal valor 
as a soldier and his skill as a general) had wisely selected 
this region for the third and decisive encounter between his 
forces and the invaders. The previous defeats of his troops, 
however severe they had been, were not looked on as irrepa- 
rable. The Granicus had been fought by his generals rashly 
and without mutual concert. And, though Darius himself 



331 B.C.] BATTLE OF ARBELA ^y 

had commanded and been beaten at Issus, that defeat might 
be attributed to the disadvantageous nature of the ground ; 
where, cooped up between the mountains, the river, and the 
sea, the numbers of the Persians confused and clogged alike 
the general's skill and the soldiers' prowess, so that their 
very strength became their weakness. Here, on the broad 
plains of Kurdistan, there was scope for Asia's largest host 
to array its lines, to wheel, to skirmish, to condense or 
expand its squadrons, to maneuver, and to charge, at will. 
Should Alexander and his scanty band dare to plunge into 
that living sea of war, their destruction seemed inevitable. 

Darius felt, however, the critical nature to himself as well 
as to his adversary of the coming encounter. He could not 
hope to retrieve the consequences of a third overthrow. The 
great cities of Mesopotamia and Upper Asia, the central 
provinces of the Persian empire, were certain to be at the 
mercy of the victor. Darius knew also the Asiatic character 
well enough to be aware how it yields to the prestige of suc- 
cess and the apparent career of destiny. He felt that the 
diadem was now either to be firmly replaced on his own 
brow, or to be irrevocably transferred to the head of his 
European conqueror. He, therefore, during the long inter- 
val left him after the battle of Issus, while Alexander was 
subjugating Syria and Egypt, assiduously busied himself in 
selecting the best troops which his vast empire supplied, and 
in training his varied forces to act together with some uni- 
formity of discipline and system. 

The hardy mountaineers of Afghanistan, Bokhara, Khiva, 
and Thibet were then, as at present, far different from the 
generality of Asiatics in warlike spirit and endurance. From 
these districts Darius collected large bodies of admirable 
infantry ; and the countries of the modern Kurds and Turko- 
mans supplied, as they do now, squadrons of horsemen, strong, 
skilful, bold, and trained to a life of constant activity and 
warfare. It is not uninteresting to notice that the ancestors 
of our own late enemies, the Sikhs, served as allies of Darius 
against the Macedonians. They are spoken of in Arrian as 
Indians who dwelt near Bactria. They were attached to the 
troops of that satrapy, and their cavalry was one of the most 
formidable forces in the whole Persian army. 



68 DECISIVE BATTLES [331 b.c. 

Besides these picked troops, contingents also came in from 
the numerous other provinces that yet obeyed the Great King. 
Altogether, the horse are said to have been forty thousand, 
the scythe-bearing chariots two hundred, and the armed ele- 
phants fifteen in number. The amount of the infantry is 
uncertain ; but the knowledge which both ancient and modern 
times supply of the usual character of Oriental armies, and 
of their populations of camp-followers, may warrant us in 
believing that many myriads were prepared to fight, or to 
encumber those who fought, for the last Darius. 

The position of the Persian king near Mesopotamia was 
chosen with great military skill. It was certain that Alex- 
ander on his return from Egypt must march northward along 
the Syrian coast, before he attacked the central provinces of 
the Persian empire. A direct eastward march from the lower 
part of Palestine across the great Syrian desert was then, as 
now, utterly impracticable. Marching eastward from Syria, 
Alexander would, on crossing the Euphrates, arrive at the 
vast Mesopotamian plains. The wealthy capitals of the em- 
pire, Babylon, Susa, and Persepolis, would then lie to his 
south ; and if he marched down through Mesopotamia to 
attack them, Darius might reasonably hope to follow the 
Macedonians with his immense force of cavalry, and, without 
even risking a pitched battle, to harass and finally overwhelm 
them. We may remember that three centuries afterwards a 
Roman army under Crassus was thus actually destroyed by 
the Oriental archers and horsemen in these very plains ; and 
that the ancestors of the Parthians who thus vanquished the 
Roman legions served by thousands under King Darius. If, 
on the contrary, Alexander should defer his march against 
Babylon, and first seek an encounter with the Persian army, 
the country on each side of the Tigris in this latitude was 
highly advantageous for such an army as Darius commanded ; 
and he had close in his rear the mountainous districts of 
Northern Media, where he himself had in early life been 
satrap, where he had acquired reputation as a soldier and a 
general, and where he justly expected to find loyalty to his 
person and a safe refuge in case of defeat. 

His great antagonist came on across the Euphrates against 
him, at the head of an army which Arrian, copying from the 



331 B.C.] BATTLE OF ARBELA 69 

journals of Macedonian officers, states to have consisted of 
forty thousand foot and seven thousand horse. In studying 
the campaigns of Alexander, we possess the peculiar advan- 
tage of deriving our information from two of Alexander's 
generals of division, who bore an important part in all his 
enterprises. Aristobulus and Ptolemy (who afterwards be- 
came king of Egypt) kept regular journals of the military 
events which they witnessed ; and these journals were in the 
possession of Arrian when he drew up his history of Alex- 
ander's expedition. The high character of Arrian for integ- 
rity makes us confident that he used them fairly, and his 
comments on the occasional discrepancies between the two 
Macedonian narratives prove that he used them sensibly. 
He frequently quotes the very words of his authorities : and 
his history thus acquires a charm such as very few ancient 
or modern military narratives possess. The anecdotes and 
expressions which he records we fairly believe to be genuine, 
and not to be the coinage of a rhetorician, like those in Cur- 
tius. In fact, in reading Arrian, we read General Aristobulus 
and General Ptolemy on the campaigns of the Macedonians ; 
and it is like reading General Jomini or General Foy on the 
campaigns of the French. 

The estimate which we find in Arrian of the strength of 
Alexander's army seems reasonable when we take into account 
both the losses which he had sustained and the reenforcements 
which he had received since he left Europe. Indeed, to 
Englishmen, who know with what mere handfuls of men our 
own generals have, at Plassy, at Assaye, at Meeanee, and 
other Indian battles, routed large hosts of Asiatics, the dis- 
parity of numbers that we read of in the victories won by the 
Macedonians over the Persians presents nothing incredible. 
The army which Alexander now led was wholly composed of 
veteran troops in the highest possible state of equipment and 
discipline, enthusiastically devoted to their leader, and full of 
confidence in his military genius and his victorious destiny. 

The celebrated Macedonian phalanx formed the main 
strength of his infantry. This force had been raised and 
organized by his father Philip, who on his accession to the 
Macedonian throne needed a numerous and quickly formed 
army, and who, by lengthening the spear of the ordinary 



70 DECISIVE BATTLES [331 B.C. 

Greek phalanx, and increasing the depth of the files, brought 
the tactic of armed masses to the greatest efficiency of which 
it was capable with such materials as he possessed. He 
formed his men sixteen deep, and placed in their grasp the 
sarissa, as the Macedonian pike was called, which was four- 
and-twenty feet in length, and, when couched for action, 
reached eighteen feet in front of the soldier ; so that, as a 
space of about two feet was allowed between the ranks, the 
spears of the five files behind him projected in advance of 
each front-rank man. The phalangite soldier was fully 
equipped in the defensive armor of the regular Greek infan- 
try. And thus the phalanx presented a ponderous and bris- 
tling mass, which, as long as its order was kept compact, was 
sure to bear down all opposition. The defects of such an 
organization are obvious, and were proved in after-years, when 
the Macedonians were opposed to the Roman legions. But 
it is clear that, under Alexander, the phalanx was not the 
cumbrous, unwieldy body which it was at Cynoscephalae and 
Pydna. His men were veterans ; and he could obtain from 
them an accuracy of movement and steadiness of evolution 
such as probably the recruits of his father would only have 
floundered in attempting, and such as certainly were imprac- 
ticable in the phalanx when handled by his successors, espe- 
cially as under them it ceased to be a standing force, and 
became only a militia. Under Alexander the phalanx con- 
sisted of an aggregate of eighteen thousand men, who were 
divided into six brigades of three thousand each. These were 
again subdivided into regiments and companies ; and the men 
were carefully trained to wheel, to face about, to take more 
ground, or to close up, as the emergencies of the battle 
required. Alexander also arrayed, in the intervals of the 
regiments of his phalangites, troops armed in a different man- 
ner, which could prevent their line from being pierced, and 
their companies taken in flank, when the nature of the ground 
prevented a close formation ; and which could be withdrawn, 
when a favorable opportunity arrived for closing up the 
phalanx or any of its brigades for a charge, or when it was 
necessary to prepare to receive cavalry. 

Besides the phalanx, Alexander had a considerable force of 
infantry who were called shield-bearers : they were not so 



331 B.C.] BATTLE OF ARBELA /I 

heavily armed as the phalangites, or as was the case with the 
Greek regular infantry in general ; but they were equipped 
for close fight, as well as for skirmishing, and were far supe- 
rior to the ordinary irregular troops of Greek warfare. They 
were about six thousand strong. Besides these, he had sev- 
eral bodies of Greek regular infantry ; and he had archers, 
slingers, and javelin men, who fought also with broadsword 
and target. These were principally supplied to him by the 
highlanders of Illyria and Thracia. The main strength of 
his cavalry consisted in two chosen corps of cuirassiers — one 
Macedonian and one Thessalian — each of which was about 
fifteen hundred strong. They were provided with long lances 
and heavy swords, and horse as well as man was fully 
equipped with defensive armor. Other regiments of regular 
cavalry were less heavily armed, and there were several 
bodies of light horsemen, whom Alexander's conquests in 
Egypt and Syria had enabled him to mount superbly. 

A little before the end of August, Alexander crossed the 
Euphrates at Thapsacus, a small corps of Persian cavalry 
under Mazseus retiring before him. Alexander was too pru- 
dent to march down through the Mesopotamian deserts, and 
continued to advance eastward with the intention of passing 
the Tigris, and then, if he was unable to find Darius and 
bring him to action, of marching southward on the left side 
of that river along the skirts of a mountainous district, where 
his men would suffer less from heat and thirst, and where 
provisions would be more abundant. 

Darius, finding that his adversary was not to be enticed 
into the march through Mesopotamia against his capital, de- 
termined to remain on the battle-ground which he had chosen 
on the left of the Tigris ; where, if his enemy met a defeat or 
a check, the destruction of the invaders would be certain with 
two such rivers as the Euphrates and the Tigris in their rear. 
The Persian king availed himself to the utmost of every ad- 
vantage in his power. He caused a large space of ground to 
be carefully leveled for the operation of his scythe-armed 
chariots ; and he deposited his military stores in the strong 
town of Arbela, about twenty miles in his rear. The rhetori- 
cians of after-ages have loved to describe Darius Codomannus 
as a second Xerxes in ostentation and imbecility ; but a fair 



72 DECISIVE BATTLES [331 B.C. 

examination of his generalship in this his last campaign shows 
that he was worthy of bearing the same name as his great 
predecessor, the royal son of Hystaspes. 

On learning that Darius was with a large army on the left 
of the Tigris, Alexander hurried forward and crossed that 
river without opposition. He was at first unable to procure 
any certain intelligence of the precise position of the enemy, 
and after giving his army a short interval of rest, he marched 
for four days down the left bank of the river. A moralist 
may pause upon the fact that Alexander must in this march 
have passed within a few miles of the remains of Nineveh, 
the great city of the primeval conquerors of the human race. 
Neither the Macedonian king nor any of his followers knew 
what those vast mounds had once been. They had already 
become nameless masses of grass-grown ruins ; and it is only 
within the last few years that the intellectual energy of one of 
our own countrymen has rescued Nineveh from its long 
centuries of oblivion. 

On the fourth day of Alexander's southward march, his 
advanced guard reported that a body of the enemy's cavalry 
was in sight. He instantly formed his army in order for 
battle, and, directing them to advance steadily, he rode for- 
ward at the head of some squadrons of cavalry, and charged 
the Persian horse whom he found before him. This was a 
mere reconnoitering party, and they broke and fled immedi- 
ately ; but the Macedonians made some prisoners, and from 
them Alexander found that Darius was posted only a few 
miles off, and learned the strength of the army that he had 
with him. On receiving this news, Alexander halted, and 
gave his men repose for four days, so that they should go into 
action fresh and vigorous. He also fortified his camp, and 
deposited in it all his military stores and all his sick and dis- 
abled soldiers, intending to advance upon the enemy with the 
serviceable part of his army perfectly unencumbered. After 
this halt he moved forward, while it was yet dark, with the 
intention of reaching the enemy, and attacking them at break 
of day. About half-way between the camps there were some 
undulations of the ground, which concealed the two armies 
from each other's view. But, on Alexander arriving at their 
summit, he saw by the early light the Persian host arrayed 



331 B.C.] BATTLE OF ARBELA 73 

before him ; and he probably also observed traces of some 
engineering operation having been carried on along part of 
the ground in front of them. Not knowing that these marks 
had been caused by the Persians having leveled the ground 
for the free use of their war chariots, Alexander suspected 
that hidden pitfalls had been prepared with a view of dis- 
ordering the approach of his cavalry. He summoned a 
council of war forthwith. Some of the officers were for at- 
tacking instantly at all hazards, but the more prudent opinion 
of Parmenio prevailed, and it was determined not to advance 
farther till the battle-ground had been carefully surveyed. 

Alexander halted his army on the heights ; and, taking with 
him some light-armed infantry and some cavalry, he passed 
part of the day in reconnoitering the enemy, and observing the 
nature of the ground which he had to fight on. Darius wisely 
refrained from moving from his position to attack the Mace- 
donians on the eminences which they occupied, and the two 
armies remained until night without molesting each other. 
On Alexander's return to his headquarters, he summoned his 
generals and superior officers together, and, telling them that 
he well knew that their zeal wanted no exhortation, he be- 
sought them to do their utmost in encouraging and instructing 
those whom each commanded, to do their best in the next 
day's battle. They were to remind them that they were now 
not going to fight for a province, as they had hitherto fought, 
but they were about to decide by their swords the dominion 
of all Asia. Each officer ought to impress this upon his sub- 
alterns, and they should urge it on their men. Their natural 
courage required no long words to excite its ardor ; but they 
should be reminded of the paramount importance of steadiness 
in action. The silence in the ranks must be unbroken as long 
as silence was proper ; but when the time came for the 
charge, the shout and the cheer must be full of terror for the 
foe. The officers were to be alert in receiving and communi- 
cating orders ; and every one was to act as if he felt that the 
whole result of the battle depended on his own single good 
conduct. 

Having thus briefly instructed his generals, Alexander 
ordered that the army should sup, and take their rest for 
the night. 



74 DECISIVE BATTLES [331 B.C. 

Darkness had closed over the tents of the Macedonians, 
when Alexander's veteran general, Parmenio, came to him, 
and proposed that they should make a night attack on the 
Persians. The king is said to have answered, that he scorned 
to filch a victory, and that Alexander must conquer openly 
and fairly. Arrian justly remarks that Alexander's resolution 
was as wise as it was spirited. Besides the confusion and 
uncertainty which are inseparable from night engagements, 
the value of Alexander's victory would have been impaired if 
gained under circumstances which might supply the enemy 
with any excuse for his defeat and encourage him to renew 
the contest. It was necessary for Alexander not only to beat 
Darius, but to gain such a victory as should leave his rival 
without apology for defeat, and without hope of recovery. 

The Persians, in fact, expected, and were prepared to meet, 
a night attack. Such was the apprehension that Darius enter- 
tained of it, that he formed his troops at evening in order of 
battle, and kept them under arms all night. The effect of this 
was, that the morning found them jaded and dispirited, while 
it brought their adversaries all fresh and vigorous against them. 

The written order of battle which Darius himself caused to 
be drawn up fell into the hands of the Macedonians after the 
engagement, and Aristobulus copied it into his journal. We 
thus possess, through Arrian, unusually authentic information 
as to the composition and arrangement of the Persian army. 
On the extreme left were the Bactrian, Daan, and Arachosian 
cavalry. Next to these Darius placed the troops from Persia 
proper, both horse and foot. Then came the Susians, and 
next to these the Cadusians. These forces made up the left 
wing. Darius's own station was in the center. This was com- 
posed of the Indians, the Carians, the Mardian archers, and 
the division of Persians who were distinguished by the golden 
apples that formed knobs on their spears. Here also were 
stationed the body-guard of the Persian nobility. Besides 
these, there were in the center, formed in deep order, the 
Uxian and Babylonian troops, and the soldiers from the Red 
Sea. The brigade of Greek mercenaries whom Darius had 
in his service, and who were alone considered fit to stand in 
the charge of the Macedonian phalanx, was drawn up on 
either side of the royal chariot. The right wing was com- 



331 B.C.] BATTLE OF ARBELA 75 

posed of the Coelesyrians and Mesopotamians, the Medes, the 
Parthians, the Sacians, the Tapurians, Hyrcanians, Albanians, 
and Sacesinae. In advance of the line on the left wing were 
placed the Scythian cavalry, with a thousand of the Bactrian 
horse, and a hundred scythe-armed chariots. The elephants 
and fifty scythe-armed chariots were ranged in front of the 
center ; and fifty more chariots, with the Armenian and Cap- 
padocian cavalry, were drawn up in advance of the right wing. 

Thus arrayed, the great host of King Darius passed the 
night, that to many thousands of them was the last of their 
existence. The morning of the first of October,^ two thou- 
sand one hundred and eighty-two years ago, dawned slowly 
to their wearied watching, and they could hear the note of 
the Macedonian trumpet sounding to arms, and could see 
King Alexander's forces descend from their tents on the 
heights, and form in order of battle on the plain. 

There was deep need of skill, as well as of valor, on Alex- 
ander's side ; and few battle-fields have witnessed more consum- 
mate generalship than was now displayed by the Macedonian 
king. There were no natural barriers by which he could pro- 
tect his flanks ; and not only was he certain to be overlapped 
on either wing by the vast lines of the Persian army, but there 
was imminent risk of their circling round him and charging 
him in the rear, while he advanced against their center. He 
formed, therefore, a second or reserve line, which was to wheel 
round, if required, or to detach troops to either flank, as the 
enemy's movements might necessitate ; and thus, with their 
whole army ready at any moment to be thrown into one vast 
hollow square, the Macedonians advanced in two lines against 
the enemy, Alexander himself leading on the right wing, and 
the renowned phalanx forming the center, while Parmenio 
commanded on the left. 

Such was the general nature of the disposition which Alex- 
ander made of his army. But we have in Arrian the details 
of the position of each brigade and regiment ; and as we know 
that these details were taken from the journals of Macedonian 
generals, it is interesting to examine them, and to read the 
names and stations of King Alexander's generals and colo- 
nels in this the greatest of his battles. 

The eight troops of the royal horse-guards formed the right 



y6 DECISIVE BATTLES [331 b.c. 

of Alexander's line. Their captains were Cleitus (whose regi- 
ment was on the extreme right, the post of peculiar danger), 
Glaucias, Ariston, Sopolis, Heracleides, Demetrias, Meleager, 
and Hegelochus. Philotas was general of the whole division. 
Then came the shield-bearing infantry : Nicanor was their gen- 
eral. Then came the phalanx, in six brigades. Coenus's bri- 
gade was on the right, the nearest to the shield-bearers ; next 
to this stood the brigade of Perdiccas, then Meleager's, then 
Polysperchon's ; and then the brigade of Amynias, but which 
was now commanded by Simmias, as Amynias had been sent 
to Macedonia to levy recruits. Then came the infantry of 
the left wing, under the command of Craterus. Next to Cra- 
terus's infantry were placed the cavalry regiments of the 
allies, with Eriguius for their general. The Thessalian cav- 
alry, commanded by Philippus, were next, and held the ex- 
treme left of the whole army. The whole left wing was 
entrusted to the command of Parmenio, who had round his 
person the Pharsalian troop of cavalry, which was the strong- 
est and best amid all the Thessalian horse regiments. 

The center of the second line was occupied by a body of 
phalangite infantry, formed of companies, which were drafted 
for this purpose from each of the brigades of their phalanx. 
The officers in command of this corps were ordered to be 
ready to face about if the enemy should succeed in gaining 
the rear of the army. On the right of this reserve of infan- 
try, in the second line, and behind the royal horse-guards, 
Alexander placed half the Agrian light-armed infantry under 
Attains, and with them Brison's body of Macedonian archers, 
and Oleander's regiment of foot. He also placed in this part 
of his army Menidas's squadron of cavalry, and Aretes's and 
Ariston's light-horse. Menidas was ordered to watch if the 
enemy's cavalry tried to turn the flank, and if they did so, to 
charge them before they wheeled completely round, and so 
take them in flank themselves. A similar force was arranged 
on the left of the second line for the same purpose. The 
Thracian infantry of Sitalces were placed there, and Ooera- 
nus's regiment of the cavalry of the Greek allies, and Aga- 
thon's troops of the Odrysian irregular horse. The extreme 
left of the second line in this quarter was held by Androma- 
chus's cavalry. A division of Thracian infantry was left in 



331 B.C.] BATTLE OF ARBELA 77 

guard of the camp. In advance of the right wing and center 
were scattered a number of light-armed troops, of javelin men 
and bowmen, with the intention of warding off the charge of 
the armed chariots.^ 

Conspicuous by the brilliancy of his armor, and by the 
chosen band of officers who were round his person, Alexan- 
der took his own station, as his custom was, in the right wing, 
at the head of his cavalry ; and when all the arrangements 
for the battle were complete, and his generals were fully 
instructed how to act in each probable emergency, he began 
to lead his men towards the enemy. 

It was ever his custom to expose his life freely in battle, 
and to emulate the personal prowess of his great ancestor, 
Achilles. Perhaps, in the bold enterprise of conquering Per- 
sia, it was politic for Alexander to raise his army's daring to 
the utmost by the example of his own heroic valor ; and, in 
his subsequent campaigns, the love of the excitement, of " the 
rapture of the strife," may have made him, like Murat, con- 
tinue from choice a custom which he commenced from duty. 
But he never suffered the ardor of the soldier to make him 
lose the coolness of the general ; and at Arbela, in particu- 
lar, he showed that he could act up to his favorite Homeric 
maxim of being — 

'An4)6T€pov, /SacrtXei/s t' dyaOds KparepSs r' aixM^JT^s- 

Great reliance had been placed by the Persian king on the 
effects of the scythe-bearing chariots. It was designed to 
launch these against the Macedonian phalanx, and to follow 
them up by a heavy charge of cavalry, which it was hoped 
would find the ranks of the spearmen disordered by the rush 
of the chariots, and easily destroy this most formidable part 
of Alexander's force. In front, therefore, of the Persian cen- 
ter, where Darius took his station, and which it was supposed 
the phalanx would attack, the ground had been carefully lev- 
eled and smoothed, so as to allow the chariots to charge over 
it with their full sweep and speed. As the Macedonian army 
approached the Persian, Alexander found that the front of his 
whole line barely equaled the front of the Persian center, so 
that he was outflanked on his right by the entire left wing of 
the enemy, and by their entire right wing on his left. His 



78 DECISIVE BATTLES [331 B.C. 

tactics were to assail some one point of the hostile army and 
gain a decisive advantage, while he refused, as far as possible, 
the encounter along the rest of the line. He therefore inclined 
his order of march to the right, so as to enable his right wing 
and center to come into collision with the enemy on as favor- 
able terms as possible, though the maneuver might in some 
respects compromise his left. 

The effect of this oblique movement was to bring the pha- 
lanx and his own wing nearly beyond the limits of the ground 
which the Persians had prepared for the operations of the 
chariots ; and Darius, fearing to lose the benefit of this arm 
against the most important parts of the Macedonian force, 
ordered the Scythian and Bactrian cavalry, who were drawn 
up on his extreme left, to charge round upon Alexander's 
right wing, and check its further lateral progress. Against 
these assailants Alexander sent from his second line Menidas's 
cavalry. As these proved too few to make head against the 
enemy, he ordered Ariston also from the second line with his 
light-horse, and Cleander with his foot, in support of Menidas. 
The Bactrians and Scythians now began to give way, but 
Darius reenforced them by the mass of Bactrian cavalry from 
his main line, and an obstinate cavalry fight now took place. 
The Bactrians and Scythians were numerous, and were better 
armed than the horsemen under Menidas and Ariston ; and 
the loss at first was heaviest on the Macedonian side. But 
still the European cavalry stood the charge of the Asiatics, 
and at last, by their superior discipline, and by acting in 
squadrons that supported each other, instead of fighting in a 
confused mass like the barbarians, the Macedonians broke 
their adversaries, and drove them off the field.^ 

Darius now directed the scythe-armed chariots to be driven 
against Alexander's horse-guards and the phalanx ; and these 
formidable vehicles were accordingly sent rattling across the 
plain, against the Macedonian line. When we remember the 
alarm which the war chariots of the Britons created among 
Caesar's legions, we shall not be prone to deride this arm of 
ancient warfare as always useless. The object of the chariots 
was to create unsteadiness in the ranks against which they 
were driven, and squadrons of cavalry followed close upon 
them, to profit by such disorder. But the Asiatic chariots 



331 B.C.] BATTLE OF ARBELA 79 

were rendered ineffective at Arbela by the light-armed troops 
whom Alexander had specially appointed for the service, and 
who, wounding the horses and drivers with their missile weap- 
ons, and running alongside so as to cut the traces or seize the 
reins, marred the intended charge ; and the few chariots that 
reached the phalanx passed harmlessly through the intervals 
which the spearmen opened for them, and were easily cap- 
tured in the rear. 

A mass of the Asiatic cavalry was now, for the second time, 
collected against Alexander's extreme right, and moved round 
it, with the view of gaining the flank of his army. At the 
critical moment Aretes, with his horsemen from Alexander's 
second line, dashed on the Persian squadrons when their own 
flanks were exposed by this evolution. While Alexander thus 
met and bafifled all the flanking attacks of the enemy with 
troops brought up from his second line, he kept his own 
horse-guards and the rest of the front line of his wing fresh, 
and ready to take advantage of the first opportunity for strik- 
ing a decisive blow. This soon came. A large body of horse, 
who were posted on the Persian left wing nearest to the cen- 
ter, quitted their station, and rode off to help their comrades 
in the cavalry fight that still was going on at the extreme 
right of Alexander's wing against the detachments from his 
second line. This made a huge gap in the Persian array, and 
into this space Alexander instantly dashed with his guard ; 
and then pressing towards his left, he soon began to make 
havoc in the left flank of the Persian center. The shield- 
bearing infantry now charged also among the reeling masses 
of the Asiatics ; and five of the brigades of the phalanx, with 
the irresistible might of their sarissas, bore down the Greek 
mercenaries of Darius, and dug their way through the Persian 
center. In the early part of the battle, Darius had shown 
skill and energy ; and he now for some time encouraged his 
men, by voice and example, to keep firm. But the lances of 
Alexander's cavalry and the pikes of the phalanx now gleamed 
nearer and nearer to him. His charioteer was struck down 
by a javelin at his side ; and at last Darius's nerve failed him; 
and, descending from his chariot, he mounted on a fleet horse 
and galloped from the plain, regardless of the state of the 
battle in other parts of the field, where matters were going on 



8o DECISIVE BATTLES [331 B.C. 

much more favorably for his cause, and where his presence 
might have done much towards gaining a victory. 

Alexander's operations with his right and center had ex- 
posed his left to an immensely preponderating force of the 
enemy. Parmenio kept out of action as long as possible ; 
but Mazaeus, who commanded the Persian right wing, ad- 
vanced against him, completely outflanked him, and pressed 
him severely with reiterated charges by superior numbers. 
Seeing the distress of Parmenio's wing, Simmias, who com- 
manded the sixth brigade of the phalanx, which was next to 
the left wing, did not advance with the other brigades in the 
great charge upon the Persian center, but kept back to cover 
Parmenio's troops on their right flank ; as otherwise they 
would have been completely surrounded and cut off from the 
rest of the Macedonian army. By so doing, Simmias had 
unavoidably opened a gap in the Macedonian left center ; and 
a large column of Indian and Persian horse, from the Per- 
sian right center, had galloped forward through this interval, 
and right through the troops of the Macedonian second line. 
Instead of then wheeling round upon Parmenio, or upon the 
rear of Alexander's conquering wing, the Indian and Persian 
cavalry rode straight on to the Macedonian camp, overpow- 
ered the Thracians who were left in charge of it, and began 
to plunder. This was stopped by the phalangite troops of 
the second line, who, after the enemy's horsemen had rushed 
by them, faced about, countermarched upon the camp, killed 
many of the Indians and Persians in the act of plundering, 
and forced the rest to ride off again. Just at this crisis 
Alexander had been recalled from his pursuit of Darius by 
tidings of the distress of Parmenio, and of his inability to 
bear up any longer against the hot attacks of Mazaeus. 
Taking his horse-guards with him, Alexander rode towards 
the part of the field where his left wing was fighting ; but 
on his way thither he encountered the Persian and Indian 
cavalry, on their return from his camp. 

These men now saw that their only chance of safety was 
to cut their way through ; and in one huge column they 
charged desperately upon the Madcedonians. There was 
here a close hand-to-hand fight, which lasted some time, and 
sixty of the royal horse-guards fell, and three generals, who 



331 B.C.] BATTLE OF ARBELA 8 1 

fought close to Alexander's side, were wounded. At length 
the Macedonian discipline and valor again prevailed, and a 
large number of the Persian and Indian horsemen were cut 
down ; some few only succeeded in breaking through and 
riding away. Relieved of these obstinate enemies, Alex- 
ander again formed his horse-guards, and led them towards 
Parmenio ; but by this time that general also was victorious. 
Probably the news of Darius's flight had reached Mazaeus, 
and had damped the ardor of the Persian right wing ; while 
the tidings of their comrades' success must have propor- 
tionally encouraged the Macedonian forces under Parmenio. 
His Thessalian cavalry particularly distinguished themselves 
by their gallantry and persevering good conduct; and by 
the time that Alexander had ridden up to Parmenio, the 
whole Persian army was in full flight from the field. 

It was of the deepest importance to Alexander to secure 
the person of Darius, and he now urged on the pursuit. The 
river Lycus was between the field of battle and the city of 
Arbela, whither the fugitives directed their course, and the 
passage of this river was even more destructive to the Per- 
sians than the swords and spears of the Macedonians had 
been in the engagement.* The narrow bridge was soon 
choked up by the flying thousands who rushed towards it, and 
vast numbers of the Persians threw themselves, or were 
hurried by others, into the rapid stream, and perished in its 
waters. Darius had crossed it, and had ridden on through 
Arbela without halting. Alexander reached that city on the 
next day, and made himself master of all Darius's treasure 
and stores ; but the Persian king, unfortunately for himself, 
had fled too fast for his conqueror ; he had only escaped to 
perish by the treachery of his Bactrian satrap, Bessus. 

A few days after the battle Alexander entered Babylon, 
"the oldest seat of earthly empire" then in existence, as its 
acknowledged lord and master. There were yet some cam- 
paigns of his brief and bright career to be accomplished. 
Central Asia was yet to witness the march of his phalanx. 
He was yet to effect that conquest of Afghanistan in which 
England since has failed. His generalship, as well as his 
valor, was yet to be signalized on the banks of the Hydaspes 
and the field of Cftillianwallah ; and he was yet to precede 



82 DECISIVE BATTLES [331 B.C. 

the queen of England in annexing the Punjab to the domin- 
ions of a European sovereign. But the crisis of his career 
was reached ; the great object of his mission was accom- 
pHshed ; and the ancient Persian empire, which once menaced 
all the nations of the earth with subjection, was irreparably 
crushed when Alexander had won his crowning victory at 
Arbela. 

Notes 

1 The battle was fought eleven days after an eclipse of the moon, which 
gives the means of fixing the precise date. 

* Kl^ber's arrangement of his troops at the battle of Heliopolis, where, 
with ten thousand Europeans, he had to encounter eighty thousand Asiatics 
in an open plain, is worth comparing with Alexander's tactics at Arbela. 

^ The best explanation of this may be found in Napoleon's account of the 
cavalry fights between the French and the Mamelukes : " Two Mamelukes 
were able to make head against three Frenchmen, because they were better 
armed, better mounted, and better trained ; they had two pairs of pistols, a 
blunderbuss, a carbine, a helmet with a vizor, and a coat of mail ; they had 
several horses, and several attendants on foot. One hundred cuirassiers, 
however, were not afraid of one hundred Mamelukes ; three hundred could 
beat an equal number, and one thousand could easily put to the rout fifteen 
hundred, so great is the influence of tactics, order, and evolutions! Leclerc 
and Lasalle presented their men to the Mamelukes in several lines. When 
the Arabs were on the point of overwhelming the first, the second came to 
its assistance on the right and left ; the Mamelukes then halted and wheeled, 
in order to turn the wings of this new line ; this moment was always seized 
upon to charge them, and they were uniformly broken." — Montholon's 
History of the Captivity of Napoleon. 

* I purposely omit any statement of the loss in the battle. There is a 
palpable error of the transcribers in the numbers which we find in our 
present manuscripts of Arrian ; and Curtius is of no authority. 

Synopsis of Events between the Battle of Arbela 
AND THE Battle of the Metaurus 

330 B.C. The Lacedaemonians endeavor to create a rising 
in Greece against the Macedonian power. They are defeated 
by Antipatcr, Alexander's viceroy ; and their king, Agis, falls 
in the battle. 

330 to 327. Alexander's campaigns in Upper Asia. " Hav- 
ing conquered Darius, Alexander pursued his way, encounter- 
ing difficulties which would have appalled almost any other 
general, through Bactriana, and taking Bactra, or Zariaspa 
(now Balkh), the chief city of that province, where he spent 



331 B.C.] BATTLE OF ARBELA 83 

the winter. Crossing the Oxus, he advanced in the follow- 
ing spring to Marakanda (Samarcand) to replace the loss of 
horses which he had sustained in crossing the Caucasus, to 
obtain supplies from the rich valley of Sogd (the Mahometan 
Paradise of Mader-al-Nahr), and to enforce the submission of 
Transoxiana. The northern limit of his march is probably 
represented by the modern Uskand, or Aderkand, a village 
on the laxartes, near the end of the Ferganah district. In 
Margiana he founded another Alexandria. Returning from 
the north, he led on his army in the hope of conquering 
India, till at length, marching in a line apparently nearly 
parallel with the Kabul River, he arrived at the celebrated 
rock Aornos, the position of which must have been on the 
right bank of the Indus, at some distance from Attock; 
and it may perhaps be represented by the modern Akora." 
[Vaux.] 

327, 326. Alexander marches through Afghanistan to the 
Punjab. He defeats Porus. His troops refuse to march 
towards the Ganges, and he commences the descent of the 
Indus. On his march he attacks and subdues several Indian 
tribes, among others the Malli; in the storming of whose capi- 
tal (Mooltan) he is severely wounded. He directs his admiral, 
Nearchus, to sail round from the Indus to the Persian Gulf, 
and leads the army back across Scinde and Beloochistan. 

324. Alexander returns to Babylon. "In the tenth year 
after he had crossed the Hellespont, Alexander, having won 
his vast dominion, entered Babylon ; and, resting from his 
career in that oldest seat of earthly empire, he steadily sur- 
veyed the mass of various nations which owned his sover- 
eignty, and revolved in his mind the great work of breathing 
into this huge but inert body the living spirit of Greek civili- 
zation. In the bloom of youthful manhood, at the age of 
thirty-two, he paused from the fiery speed of his earlier 
course ; and for the first time gave the nations-an opportu- 
nity of offering their homage before his throne. They came 
from all the extremities of the earth to propitiate his anger, 
to celebrate his greatness, or to solicit his protection. . . . 
History may allow us to think that Alexander and a Roman 
ambassador did meet at Babylon ; that the greatest man of 
the ancient world saw and spoke with a citizen of that great 



84 DECISIVE BATTLES [331 B.C. 

nation which was destined to succeed him in his appointed 
work and to found a wider and still more enduring empire. 
They met, too, in Babylon, almost beneath the shadow of the 
temple of Bel, perhaps the earliest monument ever raised by 
human pride and power, in a city stricken, as it were, by the 
word of God's heaviest judgment, as the symbol of greatness 
apart from and opposed to goodness." [Arnold.] 

323. Alexander dies at Babylon. On his death being 
known at Greece, the Athenians, and others of the southern 
states, take up arms to shake off the domination of Macedon. 
They are at first successful ; but the return of some of Alex- 
ander's veterans from Asia enables Antipater to prevail over 
them. 

317 to 289. Agathocles is tyrant of Syracuse, and carries 
on repeated wars with the Carthaginians, in the course of 
which (311) he invades Africa and reduces the Carthaginians 
to great distress. 

306. After a long series of wars with each other, and after 
all the heirs of Alexander had been murdered, his principal 
surviving generals assume the title of king, each over the 
provinces which he has occupied. The four chief among 
them were Antigonus, Ptolemy, Lysimachus, and Seleucus. 
Antipater was now dead, but his son Cassander succeeded to 
his power in Macedonia and Greece. 

301. Seleucus and Lysimachus defeat Antigonus at Ipsus. 
Antigonus is killed in the battle. 

280. Seleucus, the last of Alexander's captains, is assassi- 
nated. Of all Alexander's successors, Seleucus had formed 
the most powerful empire. He had acquired all the prov- 
inces between Phrygia and the Indus. He extended his 
dominion in India beyond the limits reached by Alexander. 
Seleucus had some sparks of his great master's genius in 
promoting civilization and commerce, as well as in gaining 
victories. Under his successors, the Seleucidae, this vast 
empire rapidly diminished; Bactria became independent, and 
a separate dynasty of Greek kings ruled there in the year 
125, when it was overthrown by the Scythian tribes. Parthia 
threw off its allegiance to the Seleucidae in 250 B.C., and the 
powerful Parthian kingdom, which afterwards proved so 
formidable a foe to Rome, absorbed nearly all the provinces 



331 B.C.] BATTLE OF ARBELA 8$ 

west of the Euphrates that had obeyed the first Seleucus. 
Before the battle of Ipsus, Mithridates, a Persian prince of 
the blood royal of the Achaemenidae, had escaped to Pontus, 
and founded there the kingdom of that name. 

Besides the kingdom of Seleucus, which, when limited to 
Syria, Palestine, and parts of Asia Minor, long survived the 
most important kingdom formed by a general of Alexander, 
was that of the Ptolemies in Egypt. The throne of Mace- 
donia was long and obstinately contended for by Cassander, 
Polysperchon, Lysimachus, Pyrrhus, Antigonus, and others ; 
but at last was secured by the dynasty of Antigonus Gonatas. 
The old republics of Southern Greece suffered severely dur- 
ing these tumults, and the only Greek states that showed any 
strength and spirit were the cities of the Achaean League, the 
yEtolians, and the islanders of Rhodes. 

290. Rome had now thoroughly subdued the Samnites and 
the Etruscans, and had gained numerous victories over the 
Cisalpine Gauls. Wishing to confirm her dominion in Lower 
Italy, she became entangled in a war with Pyrrhus, fourth 
king of Epirus, who was called over by the Tarentines to aid 
them. Pyrrhus was at first victorious, but in the year 275 
was defeated by the Roman legions in a pitched battle. He 
returned to Greece, remarking of Sicily, OLqv airoXeiTrofjiev 
K.ap')(^Tj8oviot<i Koi 'F(OfjLaiOL<; iraXaiarpav, " Rome becomes 
mistress of all Italy from the Rubicon to the straits of 
Messina." 

264. The first Punic war begins. Its primary cause was 
the desire of both the Romans and the Carthaginians to 
possess themselves of Sicily. The Romans form a fleet, and 
successfully compete with the marine of Carthage.^ During 
the latter half of the war the military genius of Hamilcar 
Barca sustains the Carthaginian cause in Sicily. At the end 
of twenty-four years the Carthaginians sue for peace, though 
their aggregate loss in ships and men had been less than that 
sustained by the Romans since the beginning of the war. 
Sicily becomes a Roman province. 

240 to 218. The Carthaginian mercenaries who had been 
brought back from Sicily to Africa mutiny against Carthage, 
and nearly succeed in destroying her. After a sanguinary 
and desperate struggle, Hamilcar Barca crushes them. 



86 DECISIVE BATTLES [331 B.C. 

During this season of weakness to Carthage, Rome takes 
from her the island of Sardinia. Hamilcar Barca forms the 
project of obtaining compensation by conquests in Spain, and 
thus enabling Carthage to renew the struggle with Rome. 
He takes Hannibal (then a child) to Spain with him. He 
and (after his death) his brother win great part of Southern 
Spain to the Carthaginian interest. Hannibal obtains the 
command of the Carthaginian armies in Spain, 221 b.c, being 
then twenty-six years old. He attacks Saguntum, a city on 
the Ebro in alliance with Rome, which is the immediate pre- 
text for the second Punic war. 

During this interval Rome had to sustain a storm from the 
north. The Cisalpine Gauls, in 226, formed an alliance with 
one of the fiercest tribes of their brethren north of the Alps, 
and began a furious war against the Romans, which lasted 
six years. The Romans gave them several severe defeats, 
and took from them part of their territories near the Po. It 
was on this occasion that the Roman colonies of Cremona 
and Placentia were founded, the latter of which did such 
essential service to Rome in the second Punic war, by the 
resistance which it made to the army of Hasdrubal. A 
muster-roll was made in this war of the effective military 
force of the Romans themselves, and of those Italian states 
that were subject to them. The return showed a force of 
seven hundred thousand foot and seventy thousand horse. 

218. Hannibal crosses the Alps and invades Italy. 

^ Note. — There is at this present moment [written in June, 1 851] in the 
Great Exhibition at Hyde Park a model of a piratical galley of Labuan, part 
of the mast of which can be let down on an enemy and form a bridge for 
boarders. It is worth while to compare this with the account in Polybius 
of the boarding bridges which the Roman admiral, Duilius, affixed to the 
masts of his galleys, and by means of which he won his great victory over 
the Carthaginian fleet. 



207 B.C.] BATTLE OF THE METAURUS 8/ 



CHAPTER IV 

The Battle of the Metaurus, 207 B.C. 

" Quid debeas, O Roma, Neronibus, 
Testis Metaurum flumen, et Hasdrubal 
Devictus, et pulcher fugatis 
Ille dies Latio tenebris. 

" Qui primus alma risit adorea; 
Dirus per urbes Afer ut Italas, 
Ceu flamma per taedas, vel Eurus 
Per Siculus equitavit undas." — Horace. 

"... The consul Nero, who made the unequaled march which deceived 
Hannibal, and defeated Hasdrubal, thereby accomplishing an achievement 
almost unrivaled in military annals. The first intelligence of his return, 
to Hannibal, was the sight of Hasdrubal's head thrown into his camp. 
When Hannibal saw this, he exclaimed, with a sigh, that ' Rome would 
now be the mistress of the world.' To this victory of Nero's it might be 
owing that his imperial namesake reigned at all. But the infamy of the 
one has eclipsed the glory of the other. When the name of Nero is heard, 
who thinks of the consul ? But such are human things." — Byron. 

ABOUT midway between Rimini and Ancona a little river 
falls into the Adriatic, after traversing one of those dis- 
tricts of Italy in which a vain attempt has lately been 
made to revive, after long centuries of servitude and shame, 
the spirit of Italian nationality and the energy of free institu- 
tions. That stream is still called the Metauro ; and wakens 
by its name recollections of the resolute daring of ancient 
Rome, and of the slaughter that stained its current two 
thousand and sixty-three years ago, when the combined con- 
sular armies of Livius and Nero encountered and crushed near 
its banks the varied hosts which Hannibal's brother was lead- 
ing from the Pyrenees, the Rhone, the Alps, and the Po, to aid 
the great Carthaginian in his stern struggle to annihilate the 
growing might of the Roman republic, and make the Punic 
power supreme over all the nations of the world. 



88 DECISIVE BATTLES [207 B.C. 

The Roman historian, Livy, who termed that struggle the 
most memorable of all wars that ever were carried on, wrote 
in no spirit of exaggeration. For it is not in ancient, but in 
modern history that parallels for its incidents and its heroes 
are to be found. The similitude between the contest which 
Rome maintained against Hannibal, and that which England 
was for many years engaged in against Napoleon, has not 
passed unobserved by recent historians. "Twice," says 
Arnold, " has there been witnessed the struggle of the high- 
est individual genius against the resources and institutions of 
a great nation ; and in both cases the nation has been victo- 
rious. For seventeen years Hannibal strove against Rome ; 
for sixteen years Napoleon Bonaparte strove against Eng- 
land : the efforts of the first ended in Zama, those of the 
second in Waterloo." One point, however, of the similitude 
between the two wars has scarcely been adequately dwelt on. 
That is, the remarkable parallel between the Roman general 
who finally defeated the great Carthaginian, and the English 
general who gave the last deadly overthrow to the French 
emperor. Scipio and Wellington both held for many years 
commands of high importance, but distant from the main 
theaters of warfare. The same country was the scene of the 
principal military career of each. It was in Spain that 
Scipio, like Wellington, successively encountered and over- 
threw nearly all the subordinate generals of the enemy, before 
being opposed to the chief champion and conqueror himself. 
Both Scipio and Wellington restored their countrymen's con- 
fidence in arms, when shaken by a series of reverses. And 
each of them closed a long and perilous war by a complete 
and overwhelming defeat of the chosen leader and the chosen 
veterans of the foe. 

Nor is the parallel between them limited to their military 
characters and exploits. Scipio, like Wellington, became an 
important leader of the aristocratic party among his country- 
men, and was exposed to the unmeasured invectives of the 
violent section of his political antagonists. When, early in the 
last reign, an infuriated mob assaulted the Duke of Welling- 
ton in the streets of the English capital on the anniversary of 
Waterloo, England was even more disgraced by that outrage 
than Rome was by the factious accusations which demagogues 



207 B.C.] BATTLE OF THE METAURUS 89 

brought against Scipio, but which he proudly repelled on the 
day of trial by reminding the assembled people that it was the 
anniversary of the battle of Zama. Happily, a wiser and a 
better spirit has now for years pervaded all classes of our 
community ; and we shall be spared the ignominy of having 
worked out to the end the parallel of national ingratitude. 
Scipio died a voluntary exile from the malevolent turbulence 
of Rome. Englishmen of all ranks and politics have now 
long united in affectionate admiration of our modern Scipio ; 
and even those who have most widely differed from the duke 
on legislative or administrative questions forget what they 
deem the political errors of that time-honored head, while they 
gratefully call to mind the laurels that have wreathed it. 

Scipio at Zama trampled in the dust the power of Carthage ; 
but that power had been already irreparably shattered in another 
field where neither Scipio nor Hannibal commanded. When 
the Metaurus witnessed the defeat and death of Hasdrubal, 
it witnessed the ruin of the scheme by which alone Carthage 
could hope to organize decisive success — the scheme of en- 
veloping Rome at once from the north and the south of Italy 
by chosen armies, led by two sons of Hamilcar. That battle 
was the determining crisis of the contest, not merely between 
Rome and Carthage, but between the two great families of the 
world, which then made Italy the arena of their oft-renewed 
contest for preeminence. 

The French historian Michelet, whose " Histoire Romaine " 
would have been invaluable if the general industry and accu- 
racy of the writer had in any degree equaled his originality 
and brilliancy, eloquently remarks : " It is not without reason 
that so universal and vivid a remembrance of the Punic wars 
has dwelt in the memories of men. They formed no mere 
struggle to determine the lot of two cities or two empires ; but 
it was a strife on the event of which depended the fate of two 
races of mankind, whether the dominion of the world should 
belong to the Indo-Germanic or to the Semitic family of nations. 
Bear in mind that the first of these comprises, besides the 
Indians and the Persians, the Greeks, the Romans, and the 
Germans. In the other are ranked the Jews and the Arabs, 
the Phoenicians and the Carthaginians. On the one side is 
the genius of heroism, of art, and legislation ; on the other is 



90 DECISIVE BATTLES [207 b.c. 

the spirit of industry, of commerce, of navigation. The two 
opposite races have everywhere come into contact, everywhere 
into hostihty. In the primitive history of Persia and Chaldea, 
the heroes are perpetually engaged in combat with their indus- 
trious and perfidious neighbors. The struggle is renewed 
between the Phoenicians and the Greeks on every coast of the 
Mediterranean. The Greek supplants the Phoenician in all 
his factories, all his colonies in the East ; soon will the Roman 
come, and do likewise in the West. Alexander did far more 
against Tyre than Salmanasar or Nabuchodonosor had done. 
Not content with crushing her, he took care that she never 
should revive ; for he founded Alexandria as her substitute, 
and changed forever the track of commerce of the world. 
There remained Carthage, — the great Carthage, and her 
mighty empire, — mighty in a far different degree than Phoe- 
nicia's had been. Rome annihilated it. Then occurred that 
which has no parallel in history : an entire civilization per- 
ished at one blow — vanished, like a falling star. The * Peri- 
plus ' of Hanno, a few coins, a score of lines in Plautus, and, 
lo, all that remains of the Carthaginian world ! 

" Many generations must needs pass away before the strug- 
gle between the two races could be renewed ; and the Arabs, 
that formidable rear-guard of the Semitic world, dashed forth 
from their deserts. The conflict between the two races then 
became the conflict of two religions. Fortunate was it that 
those daring Saracenic cavaliers encountered in the East the 
impregnable walls of Constantinople, in the West the chival- 
rous valor of Charles Martel and the sword of the Cid. The 
crusades were the natural reprisals for the Arab invasions, 
and form the last epoch of that great struggle between the 
two principal families of the human race." 

It is difficult, amid the glimmering light supplied by the 
allusions of the classical writers, to gain a full idea of the 
character and institutions of Rome's great rival. But we can 
perceive how inferior Carthage was to her competitor in mili- 
tary resources ; and how far less fitted than Rome she was 
to become the founder of centralized and centralizing domin- 
ion that should endure for centuries, and fuse into imperial 
unity the narrow nationalities of the ancient races that dwelt 
around and near the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. 



207 B.C.] BATTLE OF THE METAURUS 91 

Carthage was originally neither the most ancient nor the 
most powerful of the numerous colonies which the Phoeni- 
cians planted on the coast of Northern Africa. But her ad- 
vantageous position, the excellence of her constitution (of 
which, though ill-informed as to its details, we know that it 
commanded the admiration of Aristotle), and the commercial 
and political energy of her citizens gave her the ascendency 
over Hippo, Utica, Leptis, and her other sister Phoenician 
cities in those regions ; and she finally reduced them to a con- 
dition of dependency, similar to that which the subject allies 
of Athens occupied relatively to that once imperial city. When 
Tyre and Sidon and the other cities of Phoenicia itself sank 
from independent republics into mere vassal states of the great 
Asiatic monarchies, and obeyed by turns a Babylonian, a Per- 
sian, and a Macedonian master, their power and their traffic 
rapidly declined ; and Carthage succeeded to the important 
maritime and commercial character which they had previ- 
ously maintained. The Carthaginians did not seek to 
compete with the Greeks on the northeastern shores of the 
Mediterranean, or in the three inland seas which are con- 
nected with it ; but they maintained an active intercourse 
with the Phoenicians, and through them with Lower and Cen- 
tral Asia ; and they, and they alone, after the decline and fall 
of Tyre, navigated the waters of the Atlantic. They had the 
monopoly of all the commerce of the world that was carried 
on beyond the straits of Gibraltar. We have yet extant (in 
a Greek translation) the narrative of the voyage of Hanno, 
one of their admirals, along the western coast of Africa as 
far as Sierra Leone. And in the Latin poem of Festus Avie- 
nus frequent references are made to the records of the voyages 
of another celebrated Carthaginian admiral, Himilco, who had 
explored the northwestern coast of Europe. Our own islands 
are mentioned by Himilco as the lands of the Hiberni and the 
Albioni. It is indeed certain that the Carthaginians frequented 
the Cornish coast (as the Phoenicians had done before them) 
for the purpose of procuring tin ; and there is every reason 
to believe that they sailed as far as the coasts of the Baltic 
for amber. When it is remembered that the mariner's com- 
pass was unknown in those ages, the boldness and skill of the 
seamen of Carthage, and the enterprise of her merchants, may 



92 DECISIVE BATTLES [207 B.C. 

be paralleled with any achievements that the history of modern 
navigation and commerce can supply. 

In their Atlantic voyages along the African shores, the 
Carthaginians followed the double object of traffic and colo- 
nization. The numerous settlements that were planted by 
them along the coast from Morocco to Senegal provided for 
the needy members of the constantly increasing population 
of a great commercial capital ; and also strengthened the 
influence which Carthage exercised among the tribes of the 
African coast. Besides her fleets, her caravans gave her a 
large and lucrative trade with the native Africans ; nor must 
we limit our belief of the extent of the Carthaginian trade 
with the tribes of Central and Western Africa by the narrow- 
ness of the commercial intercourse which civilized nations of 
modern times have been able to create in those regions. 

Although essentially a mercantile and seafaring people, the 
Carthaginians by no means neglected agriculture. On the 
contrary, the whole of their territory was cultivated like a 
garden. The fertility of the soil repaid the skill and toil be- 
stowed on it ; and every invader, from Agathocles to Scipio 
^milianus, was struck with admiration at the rich pasture- 
lands carefully irrigated, the abundant harvests, the luxuriant 
vineyards, the plantations of fig and olive trees, the thriving 
villages, the populous towns, and the splendid villas of the 
wealthy Carthaginians, through which his march lay as long 
as he was on Carthaginian ground. 

The Carthaginians abandoned the ^gean and the Pontus 
to the Greeks, but they were by no means disposed to relin- 
quish to those rivals the commerce and the dominion of the 
coasts of the Mediterranean westward of Italy. For centuries 
the Carthaginians strove to make themselves masters of the 
islands that lie between Italy and Spain. They acquired the 
Balearic Islands, where the principal harbor, Port Mahon, still 
bears the name of the Carthaginian admiral. They succeeded 
in reducing the greater part of Sardinia ; but Sicily could never 
be brought into their power. They repeatedly invaded that 
island, and nearly overran it ; but the resistance which was 
opposed to them by the Syracusans, under Gelon, Dionysius, 
Timoleon, and Agathocles, preserved the island from becom- 
ing Punic, though many of its cities remained under the Car- 



207 B.C.] BATTLE OF THE METAURUS 93 

thaginian rule, until Rome finally settled the question to 
whom Sicily was to belong by conquering it for herself. 

With so many elements of success — with almost unbounded 
wealth, with commercial and maritime activity, with a fertile 
territory, with a capital city of almost impregnable strength, 
with a constitution that insured for centuries the blessings of 
social order, with an aristocracy singularly fertile in men of 
the highest genius — Carthage yet failed signally and calami- 
tously in her contest for power with Rome. One of the im- 
mediate causes of this may seem to have been the want of 
firmness among her citizens, which made them terminate the 
first Punic war by begging peace, sooner than endure any 
longer the hardships and burdens caused by a state of war- 
fare, although their antagonists had suffered far more severely 
than themselves. Another cause was the spirit of faction 
among their leading men, which prevented Hannibal in the 
second war from being properly reenforced and supported. 
But there were also more general causes why Carthage proved 
inferior to Rome. These were her position relatively to the 
mass of the inhabitants of the country which she ruled, and 
her habit of trusting to mercenary armies in her wars. 

Our clearest information as to the different races of men in 
and about Carthage is derived from Diodorus Siculus. That 
historian enumerates four different races : first, he mentions 
the Phoenicians who dwelt in Carthage ; next, he speaks of 
the Liby-Phoenicians — these, he tells us, dwelt in many 
of the maritime cities, and were connected by intermarriages 
with the Phoenicians, which was the cause of their compound 
name; thirdly, he mentions the Libyans, the bulk and the 
most ancient part of the population, hating the Carthaginians 
intensely on account of the oppressiveness of their domina- 
tion ; lastly, he names the Numidians, the nomad tribes of the 
frontier. 

It is evident, from this description, that the native Libyans 
were a subject class, without franchise or political rights; and, 
accordingly, we find no instance specified in history of a 
Libyan holding political office or military command. The 
half-castes, the Liby-Phoenicians, seem to have been some- 
times sent out as colonists ; but it may be inferred, from what 
Diodorus says of their residence, that they had not the right 



94 DECISIVE BATTLES [207 B.C. 

of the citizenship of Carthage ; and only a solitary case occurs 
of one of this^ race being entrusted with authority, and that, 
too, not emanating from the home government. This is the 
instance of the officer sent by Hannibal to Sicily, after the 
fall of Syracuse ; whom Polybius calls Myttinus the Libyan, 
but whom, from the fuller account in Livy, we find to have 
been a Liby-Phoenician ; and it is expressly mentioned what 
indignation was felt by the Carthaginian commanders in the 
island that this half-caste should control their operations. 

With respect to the composition of their armies, it is observ- 
able that, though thirsting for extended empire, and though 
some of the leading men became generals of the highest 
order, the Carthaginians, as a people, were anything but per- 
sonally warlike. As long as they could hire mercenaries to 
fight for them, they had little appetite for the irksome train- 
ing, and they grudged the loss of valuable time which military 
service would have entailed on themselves. 

As Michelet remarks, " The life of an industrious merchant, 
of a Carthaginian, was too precious to be risked, as long as it 
was possible to substitute advantageously for it that of a bar- 
barian from Spain or Gaul. Carthage knew, and could tell 
to a drachma, what the life of a man of each nation came to. 
A Greek was worth more than a Campanian, a Campanian 
worth more than a Gaul or a Spaniard. When once this 
tariff of blood was correctly made out, Carthage began a war 
as a mercantile speculation. She tried to make conquests in 
the hope of getting new mines to work, or to open fresh mar- 
kets for her exports. In one venture she could afford to 
spend fifty thousand mercenaries ; in another, rather more. 
If the returns were good, there was no regret felt for the 
capital that had been lavished in the investment ; more money 
got more men, and all went on well." 

Armies composed of foreign mercenaries have, in all ages, 
been as formidable to their employers as to the enemy against 
whom they were directed. We know of one occasion (between 
the first and second Punic wars) when Carthage was brought 
to the very brink of destruction by a revolt of her foreign 
troops. Other mutinies of the same kind must from time to 
time have occurred. Probably one of these was the cause of 
the comparative weakness of Carthage at the time of the 



207 B.C.] BATTLE OF THE METAURUS 95 

Athenian expedition against Syracuse ; so different from the 
energy with which she attacked Gelon half a century earlier, 
and Dionysius half a century later. And even when we con- 
sider her armies with reference only to their efficiency in 
warfare, we perceive at once the inferiority of such bands of 
condottieri, brought together without any common bond of 
origin, tactics, or cause, to the legions of Rome, which at the 
time of the Punic wars were raised from the very flower of a 
hardy agricultural population, trained in the strictest disci- 
pline, habituated to victory, and animated by the most resolute 
patriotism. And this shows also the transcendency of the 
genius of Hannibal, which could form such discordant ma- 
terials into a compact organized force, and inspire them with 
the spirit of patient discipline and loyalty to their chief ; so 
that they were true to him in his adverse as well as in his 
prosperous fortunes ; and throughout the checkered series of 
his campaigns no panic rout ever disgraced a division under 
his command ; no mutiny, or even attempt at mutiny, was 
ever known in his camp ; and, finally, after fifteen years of 
Italian warfare, his men followed their old leader to Zama, 
"with no fear and little hope";^ and there, on that disastrous 
field, stood firm around him, his Old Guard, till Scipio's 
Numidian allies came up on their flank, when at last, sur- 
rounded and overpowered, the veteran battalions sealed their 
devotion to their general with their blood. 

" But if Hannibal's genius may be likened to the Homeric 
god, who, in his hatred to the Trojans, rises from the deep to 
rally the fainting Greeks, and to lead them against the enemy, 
so the calm courage with which Hector met his more than 
human adversary in his country's cause is no unworthy image 
of the unyielding magnanimity displayed by the aristocracy of 
Rome. As Hannibal utterly eclipses Carthage, so, on the 
contrary, Fabius, Marcellus, Claudius Nero, even Scipio him- 
self, are as nothing when compared to the spirit, and wisdom, 
and power of Rome. The senate, which voted its thanks to 
its political enemy, Varro, after his disastrous defeat, 'because 
he had not despaired of the commonwealth,' and which dis- 
dained either to solicit, or to reprove, or to threaten, or in any 
way to notice the twelve colonies which had refused their 
customary supplies of men for the army, is far more to be 



96 DECISIVE BATTLES [207 B.C. 

honored than the conqueror of Zama. This we should the 
more carefully bear in mind, because our tendency is to 
admire individual greatness far more than national ; and, as 
no single Roman will bear comparison to Hannibal, we are 
apt to murmur at the event of the contest, and to think that 
the victory was awarded to the least worthy of the combatants. 
On the contrary, never was the wisdom of God's providence 
more manifest than in the issue of the struggle between Rome 
and Carthage. It was clearly for the good of mankind that 
Hannibal should be conquered : his triumph would have stopped 
the progress of the world. For great men can only act per- 
manently by forming great nations; and no one man, even 
though it were Hannibal himself, can in one generation effect 
such a work. But where the nation has been merely en- 
kindled for a while by a great man's spirit, the light passes 
away with him who communicated it ; and the nation, when 
he is gone, is like a dead body, to which magic power had, 
for a moment, given unnatural life : when the charm has 
ceased, the body is cold and stiff as before. He who grieves 
over the battle of Zama should carry on his thoughts to a 
period thirty years later, when Hannibal must, in the course 
of nature, have been dead, and consider how the isolated 
Phoenician city of Carthage was fitted to receive and to con- 
solidate the civilization of Greece, or by its laws and institu- 
tions to bind together barbarians of every race and language 
into an organized empire, and prepare them for becoming, 
when that empire was dissolved, the free members of the 
commonwealth of Christian Europe." [Arnold.] 

It was in the spring of 207 b.c. that Hasdrubal, after skil- 
fully disentangling himself from the Roman forces in Spain, 
and after a march, conducted with great judgment and little 
loss, through the interior of Gaul and the passes of the Alps, 
appeared in the country that now is the north of Lombardy, 
at the head of troops which he had partly brought out of 
Spain, and partly levied among the Gauls and Ligurians on 
his way. At this time Hannibal, with his unconquered, and 
seemingly unconquerable, army, had been eleven years in 
Italy, executing with strenuous ferocity the vow of hatred to 
Rome which had been sworn by him while yet a child at the 
bidding of his father, Hamilcar ; who, as he boasted, had 



207 B.C.] BATTLE OF THE METAURUS 9/ 

trained up his three sons, Hannibal, Hasdrubal, and Mago, 
like three lion's whelps, to prey upon the Romans. But 
Hannibal's latter campaigns had not been signalized by any 
such great victories as marked the first years of his invasion 
of Italy. The stern spirit of Roman resolution, ever highest 
in disaster and danger, had neither bent nor despaired be- 
neath the merciless blows which " the dire African " dealt her 
in rapid succession at Trebia, at Thrasymene, and at Cannae. 
Her population was thinned by repeated slaughter in the 
field ; poverty and actual scarcity wore down the survivors, 
through the fearful ravages which Hannibal's cavalry spread 
through their corn fields, their pasture-lands, and their vine- 
yards ; many of her allies went over to the invader's side ; 
and new clouds of foreign war threatened her from Mace- 
donia and Gaul. But Rome receded not. Rich and poor 
among her citizens vied with each other in devotion to their 
country. The wealthy placed their stores, and all placed 
their lives, at the state's disposal. And though Hannibal 
could not be driven out of Italy, though every year brought 
its sufferings and sacrifices, Rome felt that her constancy had 
not been exerted in vain. If she was weakened by the con- 
tinual strife, so was Hannibal also ; and it was clear that the 
unaided resources of his army were unequal to the task of 
her destruction. The single deerhound could not pull down 
the quarry which he had so furiously assailed. Rome not 
only stood fiercely at bay, but had pressed back and gored 
her antagonist, that still, however, watched her in act to 
spring. She was weary, and bleeding at every pore ; and 
there seemed to be little hope of her escape, if the other 
hound of old Hamilcar's race should come up in time to aid 
his brother in the death-grapple. 

Hasdrubal had commanded the Carthaginian armies in 
Spain for some time, with varying but generally unpropitious 
fortune. He had not the full authority over the Punic forces 
in that country which his brother and his father had previ- 
ously exercised. The faction at Carthage, which was at feud 
with his family, succeeded in fettering and interfering with 
his power ; and other generals were from time to time sent 
into Spain, whose errors and misconduct caused the reverses 
that Hasdrubal met with. This is expressly attested by the 



98 DECISIVE BATTLES [207 B.C. 

Greek historian Polybius, who was the intimate friend of the 
younger Africanus and drew his information respecting 
the second Punic war from the best possible authorities. 
Livy gives a long narrative of campaigns between the Roman 
commanders in Spain and Hasdrubal, which is so palpably 
deformed by fictions and exaggerations as to be hardly 
deserving of attention. 

It is clear that in the year 208 b.c, at least, Hasdrubal out- 
maneuvered Publius Scipio, who held the command of the 
Roman forces in Spain, and whose object was to prevent 
him from passing the Pyrenees and marching upon Italy. 
Scipio expected that Hasdrubal would attempt the nearest 
route, along the coast of the Mediterranean ; and he there- 
fore carefully fortified and guarded the passes of the eastern 
Pyrenees. But Hasdrubal passed these mountains near their 
western extremity ; and then, with a considerable force of 
Spanish infantry, with a small number of African troops, 
with some elephants and much treasure, he marched, not 
directly towards the coast of the Mediterranean, but in a north- 
eastern line towards the center of Gaul. He halted for the 
winter in the territory of the Arverni, the modern Auvergne ; 
and conciliated or purchased the good-will of the Gauls in 
that region so far that he not only found friendly winter 
quarters among them, but great numbers of them enlisted 
under him, and on the approach of spring marched with him 
to invade Italy. 

By thus entering Gaul at the southwest, and avoiding its 
southern maritime districts, Hasdrubal kept the Romans in 
complete ignorance of his precise operations and movements 
in that country. All that they knew was that Hasdrubal had 
baffled Scipio's attempts to keep him in Spain ; that he had 
crossed the Pyrenees with soldiers, elephants, and money, and 
that he was raising fresh forces among the Gauls. The spring 
was sure to bring him into Italy ; and then would come the real 
tempest of the war, when from the north and from the south 
the two Carthaginian armies, each under a son of the Thunder- 
bolt,2 were to gather together around the seven hills of Rome. 

In this emergency the Romans looked among themselves 
earnestly and anxiously for leaders fit to meet the perils of the 
coming campaign. 



207 B.C.] BATTLE OF THE METAURUS 99 

The senate recommended the people to elect as one of their 
consuls Caius Claudius Nero, a patrician of one of the fami- 
lies of the great Claudian house. Nero had served during 
the preceding years of the war, both against Hannibal in 
Italy and against Hasdrubal in Spain ; but it is remarkable 
that the histories which we possess record no successes as 
having been achieved by him either before or after his great 
campaign of the Metaurus. It proves much for the sagacity 
of the leading men of the senate that they recognized in 
Nero the energy and spirit which were required at this crisis, 
and it is equally creditable to the patriotism of the people 
that they followed the advice of the senate by electing a 
general who had no showy exploits to recommend him to 
their choice. 

It was a matter of greater difficulty to find a second consul. 
The laws required that one consul should be a plebeian ; and 
the plebeian nobility had been fearfully thinned by the events 
of the war. While the senators anxiously deliberated among 
themselves what fit colleague for Nero could be nominated 
at the coming comitia, and sorrowfully recalled the names of 
Marcellus, Gracchus, and other plebeian generals who were 
no more, one taciturn and moody old man sat in sullen apathy 
among the conscript fathers. This was Marcus Livius, who 
had been consul in the year before the beginning of this war, 
and had then gained a victory over the Illyrians. After his 
consulship he had been impeached before the people on a 
charge of peculation and unfair division of the spoils among 
his soldiers. The verdict was unjustly given against him ; 
and the sense of this wrong, and of the indignity thus put 
upon him, had rankled unceasingly in the bosom of Livius, 
so that for eight years after his trial he had lived in seclusion 
at his country seat, taking no part in any affairs of state. 
Latterly the censors had compelled him to come to Rome 
and resume his place in the senate, where he used to sit 
gloomily apart, giving only a silent vote. At last an unjust 
accusation against one of his near kinsmen made him break 
silence ; and he harangued the house in words of weight and 
sense, which drew attention to him, and taught the senators 
that a strong spirit dwelt beneath that unimposing exterior. 
Now, while they were debating on what noble of a plebeian 



100 DECISIVE BATTLES [207 B.C. 

house was fit to assume the perilous honors of the consulate, 
some of the elder of them looked on Marcus Livius, and re- 
membered that in the very last triumph which had been 
celebrated in the streets of Rome this grim old man had sat 
in the car of victory ; and that he had offered the last grand 
thanksgiving sacrifice for the success of the Roman arms 
that had bled before Capitoline Jove. There had been no 
triumphs since Hannibal came into Italy. ^ The Illyrian 
campaign of Livius was the last that had been so honored ; 
perhaps it might be destined for him now to renew the long- 
interrupted series. The senators resolved that Livius should 
be put in nomination as consul with Nero ; the people were 
willing to elect him ; the only opposition came from himself. 
He taunted them with their inconsistency in honoring a man 
they had convicted of a base crime. " If I am innocent," 
said he, " why did you place such a stain on me ? If I am 
guilty, why am I more fit for a second consulship than I was 
for my first one .■' " The other senators remonstrated with 
him, urging the example of the great Camillus, who, after an 
unjust condemnation on a similar charge, both served and 
saved his country. At last Livius ceased to object ; and 
Caius Claudius Nero and Marcus Livius were chosen consuls 
of Rome. 

A quarrel had long existed between the two consuls, and 
the senators strove to effect a reconciliation between them 
before the campaign. Here again Livius for a long time 
obstinately resisted the wish of his fellow senators. He said 
it was best for the state that he and Nero should continue to 
hate one another. Each would do his duty better when he 
knew that he was watched by an enemy in the person of his 
own colleague. At last the entreaties of the senators pre- 
vailed, and Livius consented to forego the feud, and to 
cooperate with Nero in preparing for the coming struggle. 

As soon as the winter snows were thawed, Hasdrubal com- 
menced his march from Auvergne to the Alps. He experi- 
enced none of the difficulties which his brother had met with 
from the mountain tribes. Hannibal's army had been the 
first body of regular troops that had ever traversed the 
regions ; and, as wild animals assail a traveler, the natives 
rose against it instinctively, in imagined defense of their own 



207 B.C.] BATTLE OF THE METAURUS lOI 

habitations, which they supposed to be the objects of Cartha- 
ginian ambition. But the fame of the war with which Italy- 
had now been convulsed for eleven years had penetrated into 
the Alpine passes ; and the mountaineers understood that a 
mighty city, southward of the Alps, was to be attacked by the 
troops whom they saw marching among them. They not only 
opposed no resistance to the passage of Hasdrubal, but many 
of them, out of the love of enterprise and plunder, or allured 
by the high pay that he offered, took service with him ; and 
thus he advanced upon Italy with an army that gathered 
strength at every league. It is said, also, that some of the 
most important engineering works which Hannibal had con- 
structed were found by Hasdrubal still in existence, and ma- 
terially favored the speed of his advance. He thus emerged 
into Italy from the Alpine valleys much sooner than had been 
anticipated. Many warriors of the Ligurian tribes joined 
him ; and, crossing the river Po, he marched down its south- 
ern bank to the city of Placentia, which he wished to secure 
as a base for future operations. Placentia resisted him as 
bravely as it had resisted Hannibal eleven years before ; and 
for some time Hasdrubal was occupied with a fruitless siege 
before its walls. 

Six armies were levied for the defense of Italy when the 
long-dreaded approach of Hasdrubal was announced. Sev- 
enty thousand Romans served in the fifteen legions of which, 
with an equal number of Italian allies, those armies and the 
garrisons were composed. Upwards of thirty thousand more 
Romans were serving in Sicily, Sardinia, and Spain. The 
whole number of Roman citizens of an age fit for military 
duty scarcely exceeded a hundred and thirty thousand. The 
census taken before the war had shown a total of two hun- 
dred and seventy thousand, which had been diminished by 
more than half during twelve years. These numbers are 
fearfully emphatic of the extremity to which Rome was re- 
duced, and of her gigantic efforts in that great agony of her 
fate. Not merely men, but money and military stores, were 
drained to the utmost ; and if the armies of that year should 
be swept off by a repetition of the slaughters of Thrasymene 
and Cannae, all felt that Rome would cease to exist. Even if 
the campaign were to be marked by no decisive success on 



I02 DECISIVE BATTLES [207 B.C. 

either side, her ruin seemed certain. In South Italy, Hanni- 
bal had either detached Rome's allies from her, or had impov- 
erished them by the ravages of his army. If Hasdrubal could 
have done the same in Upper Italy, if Etruria, Umbria, and 
Northern Latium had either revolted or been laid waste, 
Rome must have sunk beneath sheer starvation ; for the 
hostile or desolated territory would have yielded no supplies 
of corn for her population ; and money to purchase it from 
abroad there was none. Instant victory was a matter of life 
and death. Three of her six armies were ordered to the 
north, but the first of these was required to overawe the dis- 
affected Etruscans. The second army of the north was 
pushed forward, under Porcius, the pretor, to meet and keep 
in check the advanced troops of Hasdrubal ; while the third, 
the grand army of the north, which was to be under the im- 
mediate command of the consul Livius, who had the chief 
command in all North Italy, advanced more slowly in its 
support. There were similarly three armies in the south, 
under the orders of the other consul, Claudius Nero. 

The lot had decided that Livius was to be opposed to Has- 
drubal, and that Nero should face Hannibal. And "when 
all was ordered as themselves thought best, the two consuls 
went forth of the city, each his several way. The people of 
Rome were now quite otherwise affected than they had been 
when L. .^milius Paulus and C. Terentius Varro were sent 
against Hannibal. They did no longer take upon them to 
direct their generals, or bid them despatch, and win the vic- 
tory betimes ; but rather they stood in fear lest all diligence, 
wisdom, and valor should prove too little. For since few 
years had passed wherein some one of their generals had not 
been slain, and since it was manifest that if either of these 
present consuls were defeated or put to the worst, the two 
Carthaginians would forthwith join and make short work 
with the other, it seemed a greater happiness than could be 
expected that each of them should return home victor, and 
come off with honor from such mighty opposition as he was 
like to find. With extreme difficulty had Rome held up her 
head ever since the battle of Cannae ; though it were so that 
Hannibal alone, with little help from Carthage, had continued 
the war in Italy. But there was now arrived another son of 



207B.C.] BATTLE OF THE METAURUS IO3 

Amilcar; and one that, in his present expedition, had seemed a 
man of more sufficiency than Hannibal himself. For, whereas 
in that long and dangerous march through barbarous nations, 
over great rivers and mountains that were thought unpassa- 
ble, Hannibal had lost a great part of his army, this Asdru- 
bal, in the same places, had multiplied his numbers; and, 
gathering the people that he found in the way, descended 
from the Alps like a rolling snowball, far greater than he 
came over the Pyrenees at his first setting out of Spain. 
These considerations, and the like, of which fear presented 
many unto them, caused the people of Rome to wait upon 
their consuls out of the town, like a pensive train of mourn- 
ers ; thinking upon Marcellus and Crispinus, upon whom, in 
the like sort, they had given attendance the last year, but 
saw neither of them return alive from a less dangerous war. 
Particularly old Q. Fabius gave his accustomed advice to 
M. Livius, that he should abstain from giving or taking battle, 
until he well understood the enemies' condition. But the con- 
sul made him a froward answer, and said that he would fight 
the very first day, for that he thought it long till he should 
either recover his honor by victory, or, by seeing the over- 
throw of his own unjust citizens, satisfy himself with the joy 
of a great, though not an honest, revenge. But his meaning 
was better than his words." [Raleigh.] 

Hannibal at this period occupied with his veteran but much- 
reduced forces the extreme south of Italy. It had not been 
expected either by friend or foe that Hasdrubal would effect 
his passage of the Alps so early in the year as actually 
occurred. And even when Hanniljal learned that his brother 
was in Italy, and had advanced as far as Placentia, he was 
obliged to pause for further intelligence, before he himself 
commenced active operations, as he could not tell whether his 
brother might not be invited into Etruria, to aid the party 
there that was disaffected to Rome, or whether he would 
march down by the Adriatic Sea. Hannibal led his troops 
out of their winter quarters in Bruttium, and marched north- 
ward as far as Canusium. Nero had his headquarters near 
Venusia, with an army which he had increased to forty thou- 
sand foot and two thousand five hundred horse, by incorpo- 
rating under his own command some of the legions which 



104 DECISIVE BATTLES [207 b.c. 

had been intended to act under other generals in the south. 
There was another Roman army twenty thousand strong, 
south of Hannibal, at Tarentum. The strength of that city 
secured this Roman force from any attack by Hannibal, and 
it was a serious matter to march northward and leave it in his 
rear, free to act against all his depots and allies in the 
friendly part of Italy, which for the last two or three cam- 
paigns had served him for a base of his operations. More- 
over, Nero's army was so strong that Hannibal could not 
concentrate troops enough to assume the offensive against it 
without weakening his garrisons, and relinquishing, at least 
for a time, his grasp upon the southern provinces. To do 
this before he was certainly informed of his brother's opera- 
tions would have been a useless sacrifice ; as Nero could 
retreat before him upon the other Roman armies near the 
capital, and Hannibal knew by experience that a mere 
advance of his army upon the walls of Rome would have no 
effect on the fortunes of the war. In the hope, probably, of 
inducing Nero to follow him, and of gaining an opportunity 
of outmaneuvering the Roman consul and attacking him on 
his march, Hannibal moved into Lucania, and then back into 
Apulia ; he again marched down into Bruttium, and strength- 
ened his army by a levy of recruits in that district. Nero 
followed him, but gave him no chance of assailing him at a 
disadvantage. Some partial encounters seem to have taken 
place ; but the consul could not prevent Hannibal's junction 
with his Bruttian levies, nor could Hannibal gain an oppor- 
tunity of surprising and crushing the consul.* Hannibal 
returned to his former headquarters at Canusium, and halted 
there in expectation of further tidings of his brother's move- 
ments. Nero also resumed his former position in observation 
of the Carthaginian army. 

Meanwhile, Hasdrubal had raised the siege of Placentia, 
and was advancing towards Ariminum on the Adriatic, and 
driving before him the Roman army under Porcius. Nor 
when the consul Livius had come up, and united the second 
and third armies of the north, could he make head against 
the invaders. The Romans still fell back before Hasdrubal, 
beyond Ariminum, beyond the Metaurus, and as far as the 
little town of Sena, to the southeast of that river. Hasdrubal 



207 B.C.] BATTLE OF THE METAURUS 105 

was not unmindful of the necessity of acting in concert with his 
brother. He sent messengers to Hannibal to announce his 
own line of march, and to propose that they should unite their 
armies in South Umbria, and then wheel round against Rome. 
Those messengers traversed the greater part of Italy in safety ; 
but, when close to the object of their mission, were captured 
by a Roman detachment ; and Hasdrubal's letter, detailing his 
whole plan of the campaign, was laid, not in his brother's 
hands, but in those of the commander of the Roman armies 
of the south. Nero saw at once the full importance of the 
crisis. The two sons of Hamilcar were now within two hun- 
dred miles of each other, and if Rome were to be saved, the 
brothers must never meet alive. Nero instantly ordered seven 
thousand picked men, a thousand being cavalry, to hold them- 
selves in readiness for a secret expedition against one of Han- 
nibal's garrisons ; and as soon as night had set in, he hurried 
forward on his bold enterprise ; but he quickly left the south- 
ern road towards Lucania, and, wheeling round, pressed 
northward with the utmost rapidity towards Picenum. He 
had during the preceding afternoon sent messengers to Rome, 
who were to lay Hasdrubal's letters before the senate. There 
was a law forbidding a consul to make war or to march his 
army beyond the limits of the province assigned to him ; but 
in such an emergency Nero did not wait for the permission 
of the senate to execute his project, but informed them that 
he was already on his march to join Livius against Hasdrubal. 
He advised them to send the two legions which formed the 
home garrison on to Narnia, so as to defend that pass of the 
Flaminian road against Hasdrubal, in case he should march 
upon Rome before the consular armies could attack him. 
They were to supply the place of these two legions at Rome 
by a levy en masse in the city, and by ordering up the reserve 
legion from Capua. These were his communications to the 
senate. He also sent horsemen forward along his line of 
march, with orders to the local authorities to bring stores of 
provisions and refreshments of every kind to the roadside, 
and to have relays of carriages ready for the conveyance of 
the wearied soldiers. Such were the precautions which he 
took for accelerating his march ; and when he had advanced 
some little distance from his camp, he briefly informed his 



I06 DECISIVE BATTLES [207 B.C. 

soldiers of the real object of their expedition. He told them 
that there never was a design more seemingly audacious, and 
more really safe. He said he was leading them to a certain 
victory, for his colleague had an army large enough to balance 
the enemy already, so that tJieir swords would decisively turn 
the scale. The very rumor that a fresh consul and a fresh 
army had come up, when heard on the battle-field (and he 
would take care that they should not be heard of before they 
were seen and felt), would settle the campaign. They would 
have all the credit of the victory, and of having dealt the final 
decisive blow. He appealed to the enthusiastic reception 
which they had already met with on their line of march as a 
proof and an omen of their good fortune. And, indeed, their 
whole path was amid the vows and prayers and praises of 
their countrymen. The entire population of the districts 
through which they passed flocked to the roadside to see and 
bless the deliverers of their country. Food, drink, and refresh- 
ments of every kind were eagerly pressed on their acceptance. 
Each peasant thought a favor was conferred on him if one 
of Nero's chosen band would accept aught at his hands. The 
soldiers caught the full spirit of their leader. Night and day 
they marched forward, taking their hurried meals in the ranks, 
and resting by relays in the wagons which the zeal of the 
country people provided, and which followed in the rear of 
the column. 

Meanwhile, at Rome, the news of Nero's expedition had 
caused the greatest excitement and alarm. All men felt the 
full audacity of the enterprise, but hesitated what epithet to 
apply to it. It was evident that Nero's conduct would be 
judged of by the event — that most unfair criterion, as Livy 
truly terms it. People reasoned on the perilous state in which 
Nero had left the rest of his army, without a general, and 
deprived of the core of its strength, in the vicinity of the 
terrible Hannibal. They speculated on how long it would 
take Hannibal to pursue and overtake Nero himself and his 
expeditionary force. They talked over the former disasters 
of the war, and the fall of both the consuls of the last year. 
All these calamities had come on them while they had only 
one Carthaginian general and army to deal with in Italy. 
Now they had two Punic wars at one time. They had two 



207 B.C.] BATTLE OF THE METAURUS 107 

Carthaginian armies ; they had almost two Hannibals in Italy. 
Hasdrubal was sprung from the same father; trained up in 
the same hostility to Rome ; equally practised in battle against 
its legions ; and, if the comparative speed and success with 
which he had crossed the Alps was a fair test, he was even 
a better general than his brother. With fear for their inter- 
preter of every rumor, they exaggerated the strength of their 
enemy's forces in every quarter, and criticized and distrusted 
their own. 

Fortunately for Rome, while she was thus a prey to terror 
and anxiety, her consul's nerves were strong, and he reso- 
lutely urged on his march towards Sena, where his colleague, 
Livius, and the pretor Porcius were encamped ; Hasdrubal's 
army being in position about half a mile to the north. Nero 
had sent couriers forward to apprise his colleague of his proj- 
ect and of his approach ; and by the advice of Livius, Nero 
so timed his final march as to reach the camp at Sena by 
night. According to a previous arrangement, Nero's men 
were received silently into the tents of their comrades, each 
according to his rank. By these means there was no enlarge- 
ment of mexamp that could betray to Hasdrubal the accession 
of force which the Romans had received. This was consid- 
erable, as Nero's numbers had been increased on the march 
by the volunteers, who offered themselves in crowds, and from 
whom he selected the most promising men, and especially 
the veterans of former campaigns. A council of war was 
held on the morning after his arrival, in which some advised 
that time should be given for Nero's men to refresh them- 
selves, after the fatigue of such a march. But Nero vehe- 
mently opposed all delay. "The officer," said he, "who is 
for giving time for my men here to rest themselves is for 
giving time to Hannibal to attack my men, whom I have left 
in the camp in Apulia. He is for giving time to Hannibal 
and Hasdrubal to discover my march, and to maneuver for 
a junction with each other in Cisalpine Gaul at their leisure. 
We must fight instantly, while both the foe here and the foe 
in the south are ignorant of our movements. We must destroy 
this Hasdrubal, and I must be back in Apulia before Hanni- 
bal awakes from his torpor." Nero's advice prevailed. It 
was resolved to fight directly ; and before the consuls and 



I08 DECISIVE BATTLES [207 B.C. 

pretor left the tent of Livius, the red ensign, which was the 
signal to prepare for immediate action, was hoisted, and the 
Romans forthwith drew up in battle array outside the camp. 
Hasdrubal had been anxious to bring Livius and Porcius 
to battle, though he had not judged it expedient to attack 
them in their lines. And now, on hearing that the Romans 
offered battle, he also drew up his men, and advanced towards 
them. No spy or deserter had informed him of Nero's arrival ; 
nor had he received any direct information that he had more 
than his old enemies to deal with. But as he rode forward 
to reconnoiter the Roman line, he thought that their numbers 
seemed to have increased, and that the armor of some of them 
was unusually dull and stained. He noticed also that the 
horses of some of the cavalry appeared to be rough and out 
of condition, as if they had just come from a succession of 
forced marches. ^So also, though, owing to the precaution 
of Livius, the Roman camp showed no change of size, it had 
not escaped the quick ear of the Carthaginian general that 
the tnmipet which gave the signal to the Roman legions 
sounded that morning once oftener than usual, as if directing 
the troops of some additional superior officer. Hasdrubal, 
from his Spanish campaigns, was well acquainted with all 
the sounds and signals of Roman war ; and, from all that he 
heard and saw, he felt convinced that both the Roman consuls 
were before him. In doubt and difficulty as to what might 
have taken place between the armies of the south, and prob- 
ably hoping that Hannibal also was approaching, Hasdrubal 
determined to avoid an encounter with the combined Roman 
forces, and to endeavor to retreat upon Insubrian Gaul, where 
he would be in a friendly country, and could endeavor to 
reopen his communications with his brother. He therefore 
led his troops back into their camp ; and, as the Romans did 
not venture on an assault upon his entrenchments, and Has- 
drubal did not choose to commence his retreat in their sight, 
the day passed away in inaction. At l^he first watch of the 
night, Hasdrubal led his men silently out of their camp, and 
moved northwards towards the Metaurus, in the hope of 
placing that river between himself and the Romans before 
his retreat was discovered. His guides betrayed him ; and 
having purposely led him away from the part of the river 



207 B.C.] BATTLE OF THE METAURUS IO9 

that was fordable, they made their escape in the dark, and 
left Hasdrubal and his army wandering in confusion along 
the steep bank, and seeking in vain for a spot where the 
stream could be safely crossed. At last they halted; and 
when tiay dawned on them, Hasdrubal found that great num- 
bers of his men, in their fatigue and impatience, had lost all 
discipline and subordination, and that many of his Gallic aux- 
iliaries had got drunk, and were lying helpless in their quarters. 
The Roman cavalry was soon seen coming up in pursuit, fol- 
lowed at no great distance by the legions, which marched 
in readiness for an instant engagement. It was hopeless for 
Hasdrubal to think of continuing his retreat before them. 
The prospect of immediate battle might recall the disordered 
part of his troops to a sense of duty, and revive the instinct 
of discipline. He therefore ordered his men to prepare for 
action instantly, and made the best arrangement of them that 
the nature of the ground would permit. 

Heeren has well described the general appearance of a 
Carthaginian army. He says : " It was an assemblage of the 
most opposite races of the human species, from the farthest 
parts of the globe. Hordes of half-naked Gauls were ranged 
next to companies of white-clothed Iberians, and savage Ligu- 
rians hext to the far-traveled Nasamones and Lotophagi. 
Carthaginians and Phoenici-Af ricans formed the center ; while 
innumerable troops of Numidian horsemen, taken from all the 
tribes of the desert, swarmed about on unsaddled horses, 
and formed the wings. The van was composed of Balearic 
slingers ; and a line of colossal elephants, with their Ethiopian 
guides, formed, as it were, a chain of moving fortresses before 
the whole army." Such were the usual materials and arrange- 
ments of the hosts that fought for Carthage ; but the troops 
under Hasdrubal were not in all respects thus constituted or 
thus stationed. He seems to have been especially deficient in 
cavalry, and he had few African troops, though some Cartha- 
ginians of high rank were with him. His veteran Spanish 
infantry, armed with helmets and shields, and short cut-and- 
thrust swords, were the best part of his army. These, ^nd 
his few Africans, he drew up on his right wing, under his 
own personal command. In the center he placed his Ligurian 
infantry, and on the left wing he placed or retained the Gauls, 



no DECISIVE BATTLES [207 b.c. 

who were armed with long javelins and with huge broadswords 
and targets. The rugged nature of the ground in front and 
on the flank of this part of his line made him hope that the 
Roman right wing would be unable to come to close quarters 
with these unserviceable barbarians, before he could make 
some impression with his Spanish veterans on the Roman 
left. This was the only chance that he had of victory or 
safety, and he seems to have done everything that good gen- 
eralship could do to secure it. He placed his elephants in 
advance of his center and right wing. He had caused the 
driver of each of them to be provided with a sharp iron 
spike and a mallet ; and had given orders that every beast 
that became unmanageable, and ran back upon his own ranks, 
should be instantly killed, by driving the spike into the verte- 
bra at the junction of the head and the spine. Hasdrubal's 
elephants were ten in number. We have no trustworthy 
information as to the amount of his infantry, but it is quite 
clear that he was greatly outnumbered by the combined Roman 
forces. 

The tactic of the Roman legions had not yet acquired the 
perfection which it received from the military genius of 
Marius,^ and which we read of in the first chapter of Gibbon. 
We possess in that great work an account of the Roman 
legions at the end of the commonwealth, and during the early 
ages of the empire, which those alone can adequately admire 
who have attempted a similar description. We have also, in 
the sixth and seventeenth books of Polybius an elaborate dis- 
cussion on the military system of the Romans in his time, 
which was not far distant from the time of the battle of the 
Metaurus. But the subject is beset with difficulties ; and in- 
stead of entering into minute but inconclusive details, I would 
refer to Gibbon's first chapter, as serving for a general de- 
scription of the Roman army in its period of perfection, and 
remark that the training and armor which the whole legion 
received in the time of Augustus were, two centuries earlier, 
only partially introduced. Two divisions of troops, called 
Hastati and Principes, formed the bulk of each Roman legion 
in the second Punic war. Each of these divisions was twelve 
hundred strong. The Hastatus and the Princeps legionary 
bore a breastplate or coat of mail, brazen greaves, and a 



207 B.C.] BATTLE OF THE METAURUS 1 1 1 

brazen helmet, with a lofty, upright crest of scarlet or black 
feathers. He had a large oblong shield; and, as weapons of 
offense, two javelins, one of which was light and slender, but 
the other was a strong and massive weapon, with a shaft about 
four feet long, and an iron head of equal length. The sword 
was carried on the right thigh, and was a short cut-and-thrust 
weapon, like that which was used by the Spaniards. Thus 
armed, the Hastati formed the front division of the legion, 
and the Principes the second. Each division was drawn up 
about ten deep ; a space of three feet being allowed between 
the files as well as the ranks, so as to give each legionary 
ample room for the use of his javelins and of his sword and 
shield. The men in the second rank did not stand immedi- 
ately behind those in the first rank, but the files were alternate, 
like the position of the men on a draught-board. This was 
termed the quincunx order. Niebuhr considers that this 
arrangement enabled the legion to keep up a shower of 
javelins on the enemy for some considerable time. He says : 
" When the first line had hurled its pila, it probably stepped 
back between those who stood behind it, who with two steps 
forward restored the front nearly to its first position ; a move- 
ment which, on account of the arrangement of the quincunx, 
could be executed without losing a moment. Thus one line 
succeeded the other in the front till it was time to draw the 
swords ; nay, when it was found expedient, the lines which 
had already been in the front might repeat this change, since 
the stores of pila were surely not confined to the two which 
each soldier took with him into battle. 

" The same change must have taken place in fighting with 
the sword ; which, when the same tactic was adopted on both 
sides, was anything but a confused mel6e ; on the contrary, it 
was a series of single combats." He adds that a military 
man of experience had been consulted by him on the subject, 
and had given it as his opinion " that the change of the lines 
as described above was by no means impracticable ; and in 
the absence of the deafening noise of gunpowder, it cannot 
have had even any difficulty with trained troops." 

The third division of the legion was six hundred strong, and 
acted as a reserve. It was always composed of veteran sol- 
diers, who were called the Triarii. Their arms were the 



112 DECISIVE BATTLES [207 B.C. 

same as those of the Principes and Hastati; except that each 
Triarian carried a spear instead of javelins. The rest of the 
legion consisted of light-armed troops, who acted as skirmish- 
ers. The cavalry of each legion was at this period about 
three hundred strong. The Italian allies, who were attached 
to the legion, seem to have been similarly armed and equipped, 
but their numerical proportion of cavalry was much larger. 

Such was the nature of the forces that advanced on the 
Roman side to the battle of the Metaurus. Nero commanded 
the right wing, Livius the left, and the pretor Porcius had the 
command of the center. " Both Romans and Carthaginians 
well understood how much depended upon the fortune of this 
day, and how little hope of safety there was for the van- 
quished. Only the Romans herein seemed to have had the 
better in conceit and opinion, that they were to fight with men 
desirous to have fled from them. And according to this pre- 
sumption came Livius the consul, with a proud bravery, to 
give charge on the Spaniards and Africans, by whom he 
was so sharply entertained that victory seemed very doubtful. 
The Africans and Spaniards were stout soldiers, and well 
acquainted with the manner of the Roman fight. The Ligu- 
rians, also, were a hardy nation, and not accustomed to give 
ground ; which they needed the less, or were able now to 
do, being placed in the midst. Livius, therefore, and Porcius 
found great opposition ; and, with great slaughter on both 
sides, prevailed little or nothing. Besides other difficulties, 
they were exceedingly troubled by the elephants, that brake 
their first ranks, and put them in such disorder as the Roman 
ensigns were driven to fall back ; all this while Claudius Nero, 
laboring in vain against a steep hill, was unable to come to 
blows with the Gauls that stood opposite him, but out of 
danger. This made Hasdrubal the more confident, who, see- 
ing his own left wing safe, did the more boldly and fiercely 
make impression on the other side upon the left wing of the 
Romans." [Raleigh.] 

But at last Nero, who found that Hasdrubal refused his left 
wing, and who could not overcome the difficulties of the ground 
in the quarter assigned to him, decided the battle by another 
stroke of that military genius which had inspired his march. 
Wheeling a brigade of his best men round the rear of the rest 



207 B.C.] BATTLE OF THE METAURUS II3 

of the Roman army, Nero fiercely charged the flank of the 
Spaniards and Africans. The charge was as successful as it 
was sudden. Rolled back in disorder upon each other, and 
overwhelmed by numbers, the Spaniards and Ligurians died, 
fighting gallantly to the last. The Gauls, who had taken little 
or no part in the strife of the day, were then surrounded, and 
butchered almost without resistance. Hasdrubal, after having, 
by the confession of his enemies, done all that a general could 
do, when he saw that the victory was irreparably lost, scorn- 
ing to survive the gallant host which he had led, and to grat- 
ify, as a captive, Roman cruelty and pride, spurred his horse 
into the midst of a Roman cohort ; where, sword in hand, he 
met the death that was worthy of the son of Hamilcar and 
the brother of Hannibal. 

Success the most complete had crowned Nero's enterprise. 
Returning as rapidly as he had advanced, he was again facing 
the inactive enemies in the south before they even knew of his 
march. But he brought with him a ghastly trophy of what he 
had done. In the true spirit of that savage brutality which 
deformed the Roman national character, Nero ordered Has- 
drubal's head to be flung into his brother's camp. Eleven 
years had passed since Hannibal had last gazed on those 
features. The sons of Hamilcar had then planned their sys- 
tem of warfare against Rome, which they had so nearly brought 
to successful accomplishment. Year after year had Hannibal 
been struggling in Italy, in the hope of one day hailing the 
arrival of him whom he had left in Spain, and of seeing his 
brother's eye flash with affection and pride at the junction of 
their irresistible hosts. He now saw that eye glazed in death, 
and, in the agony of his heart, the great Carthaginian groaned 
aloud that he recognized his country's destiny. 

Rome was almost delirious with joy: so agonizing had been 
the suspense with which the battle's verdict on that great issue 
of a nation's life and death had been awaited ; so overpower- 
ing was the sudden reaction to the consciousness of security 
and to the full glow of glory and success. From the time 
when it had been known at Rome that the armies were in 
presence of each other, the people had never ceased to throng 
the forum, the conscript fathers had been in permanent sit- 
ting at the senate-house. Ever and anon a fearful whisper 



114 DECISIVE BATTLES [207 B.C. 

crept among the crowd of a second Cannae won by a second 
Hannibal. Then came truer rumors that the day was Rome's ; 
but the people were sick at heart, and heeded them not. The 
shrines were thronged with trembling women, who seemed to 
weary Heaven with prayers to shield them from the brutal 
Gaul and the savage African. Presently the reports of good 
fortune assumed a more definite form. It was said that two 
Narnian horsemen had ridden from the east into the Roman 
camp of observation in Umbria, and had brought tidings of 
the utter slaughter of the foe. Such news seemed too good 
to be true. Men tortured their neighbors and themselves by 
demonstrating its improbability and by ingeniously criticizing 
its evidence. Soon, however, a letter came from Lucius Man- 
lius Acidinus, who commanded in Umbria, and who announced 
the arrival of the Narnian horsemen in his camp, and the intel- 
ligence which they brought thither. The letter was first laid 
before the senate, and then before the assembly of the people. 
The excitement grew more and more vehement. The letter 
was read and reread aloud to thousands. It confirmed the 
previous rumor. But even this was insufficient to allay the 
feverish anxiety that thrilled through every breast in Rome. 
The letter might be a forgery : the Narnian horsemen might 
be traitors or impostors. " We must see officers from the army 
that fought, or hear despatches from the consuls themselves, 
and then only will we believe." Such was the public senti- 
ment, though some of more hopeful nature already permitted 
themselves a foretaste of joy. At length came news that offi- 
cers who really had been in the battle were near at hand. 
Forthwith the whole city poured forth to meet them, each 
person coveting to be the first to receive with his own eyes 
and ears convincing proofs of the reality of such a deliver- 
ance. One vast throng of human beings filled the road from 
Rome to the Milvian bridge. The three officers, Lucius Vetu- 
rius Pollio, Publius Licinius Varus, and Quintus Caecilius Me- 
tellus, came riding on, making their way slowly through the 
living sea around them. As they advanced, each told the 
successive waves of eager questioners that Rome was victori- 
ous. "We have destroyed Hasdrubal and his army, our 
legions are safe, and our consuls are unhurt." Each happy 
listener who caught the welcome sounds from their lips retired 



207 B.C.] BATTLE OF THE METAURUS I15 

to communicate his own joy to others, and became himself the 
center of an anxious and inquiring group. When the oiificers 
had, with much difficulty, reached the senate-house, and the 
crowd was with still greater difficulty put back from entering 
and mingling with the conscript fathers, the despatches of 
Livius and Nero were produced and read aloud. From the 
senate-house the officers proceeded to the public assembly, 
where the despatches were read again ; and then the senior 
officer, Lucius Veturius, gave in his own words a fuller detail 
of how went the fight. When he had done speaking to the 
people, a universal shout of rapture rent the air. The vast 
assembly then separated : some hastening to the temples to 
find in devotion a vent for the overflowing excitement of their 
hearts ; others seeking their homes to gladden their wives and 
children with the good news, and to feast their own eyes with 
the sight of the loved ones, who now, at last, were safe from 
outrage and slaughter. The senate ordained a thanksgiving 
of three days for the great deliverance which had been vouch- 
safed to Rome ; and throughout that period the temples were 
incessantly crowded with exulting worshipers ; and the ma- 
trons, with their children round them, in their gayest attire, 
and with joyous aspects and voices, offered grateful praises to 
the immortal gods, as if all apprehension of evil were over, 
and the war were already ended. 

With the revival of confidence came also the revival of ac- 
tivity in traffic and commerce, and in all the busy intercourse 
of daily life. A numbing load was taken off each heart and 
brain, and once more men bought and sold, and formed their 
plans freely, as had been done before the dire Carthaginians 
came into Italy. Hannibal was, certainly, still in the land ; 
but all felt that his power to destroy was broken, and that the 
crisis of the war fever was past. The Metaurus, indeed, had 
not only determined the event of the strife between Rome 
and Carthage, but it had insured to Rome two centuries more 
of almost unchanged conquest. Hannibal did actually, with 
almost superhuman skill, retain his hold on Southern Italy 
for a few years longer ; but the imperial city and her allies 
were no longer in danger from his arms, and, after Hannibal's 
downfall, the great military republic of the ancient world 
met in her career of conquest no other worthy competitor. 



Il6 DECISIVE BATTLES [207 b.c. 

Byron has termed Nero's march " unequaled," and in the 
magnitude of its consequences it is so. Viewed only as a 
mihtary exploit, it remains unparalleled, save by Marlborough's 
bold march from Flanders to the Danube, in the campaign of 
Blenheim, and perhaps also by the Archduke Charles's lateral 
march in 1796, by which he overwhelmed the French under 
Jourdain, and then, driving Moreau through the Black Forest 
and across the Rhine, for a while freed Germany from her 
invaders. 

Notes 

1 "We advanced to Waterloo as the Greeks did to Thermopylae; all of 
us without fear, and most of us without hope." — Speech of General Foy. 

" Hamilcar was surnamed Barca, which means the Thunderbolt. Sultan 
Bajazet had the similar surname of Yilderim. 

3 Marcellus had received only an ovation for the conquest of Syracuse. 

* The annalists whom Livy copied spoke of Nero's gaining repeated vic- 
tories over Hannibal, and killing and taking his men by tens of thousands. 
The falsehood of all this is self-evident. If Nero could thus always beat 
Hannibal, the Romans would not have been in such an agony of dread 
about Hasdrubal as all writers describe. Indeed, we have the express tes- 
timony of Polybius that such statements as we read in Livy of Marcellus, 
Nero, and others gaining victories over Hannibal in Italy must be all fabri- 
cations of Roman vanity. Polybius states that Hannibal was never defeated 
before the battle of Zama ; and in another passage he mentions that after 
the defeats which Hannibal inflicted on the Romans in the early years of 
the war, they no longer dared face his army in a pitched battle on a fair 
field, and yet they resolutely maintained the war. He rightly explains this 
by referring to the superiority of Hannibal's cavalry, the arm which gained 
him all his victories. By keeping within fortified lines, or close to the sides 
of the mountains when Hannibal approached them, the Romans rendered 
his cavalry ineffective ; and a glance at the geography of Italy will show 
how an army can traverse the greater part of that country without venturing 
far from the high grounds. 

^ Most probably during the period of his prolonged consulship, from 104 
B.C. to loi B.C., while he was training his army against the Cimbri and the 
Teutones. 

Synopsis of Events between the Battle of the Me- 

TAURUS, 207 B.C., and ArMINIUS's VICTORY OVER THE 

Roman Legions under Varus, 9 a.d, 

205 to 201 B.C. Scipio is made consul, and carries the war 
into Africa. He gains several victories there, and the Car- 
thaginians recall Hannibal from Italy to oppose him. Battle 
of Zama in 201 : Hannibal is defeated, and Carthage sues 



207 B.C.] BATTLE OF THE METAURUS II/ 

for peace. End of the second Punic war, leaving Rome con- 
firmed in the dominion of Italy, Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica, 
and also mistress of great part of Spain, and virtually pre- 
dominant in North Africa. 

200. Rome makes war upon Philip, king of Macedonia. She 
pretends to take the Greek cities of the Achaean League and 
the yEtolians under her protection as allies. Philip is defeated 
by the proconsul Flaminius at Cynoscephalae, 198, and begs 
for peace. The Macedonian influence is now completely de- 
stroyed in Greece, and the Roman established in its stead, 
though Rome nominally acknowledges the independence of 
the Greek cities. 

194. Rome makes war upon Antiochus, king of Syria. He 
is completely defeated at the battle of Magnesia, 192, and is 
glad to accept peace on conditions which leave him depend- 
ent upon Rome. 

200 to 190. "Thus, within the short space of ten years, 
was laid the foundation of the Roman authority in the East, 
and the general state of affairs entirely changed. If Rome 
was not yet the ruler, she was at least the arbitress of the 
world from the Atlantic to the Euphrates. The power of the 
three principal states was so completely humbled that they 
durst not, without the permission of Rome, begin any new 
war ; the fourth, Egypt, had already, in the year 201, placed 
herself under the guardianship of Rome ; and the lesser 
powers followed of themselves, esteeming it an honor to be 
called the allies of Rome. With this name the nations were 
lulled into security, and brought under the Roman yoke ; the 
new political system of Rome was founded and strengthened 
partly by exciting and supporting the weaker states against 
the stronger, however unjust the cause of the former might 
be, and partly by factions which she found means to raise in 
every state, even the smallest." [Heeren.] 

172. War renewed between Macedon and Rome. Decisive 
defeat of Perses, the Macedonian king, by Paulus ^Emilius at 
Pydna, 168. Destruction of the Macedonian monarchy. 

150. Rome oppresses the Carthaginians till they are driven 
to take up arms, and the third Punic war begins. Carthage 
is taken and destroyed by Scipio ^milianus, 146, and the 
Carthaginian territory is made a Roman province. 



Il8 DECISIVE BATTLES [207 b.c. 

146. In the same year in which Carthage falls, Corinth is 
stormed by the Roman army under Mummius. The Achaean 
League had been goaded into hostilities with Rome by means 
similar to those employed against Carthage. The greater 
part of Southern Greece is made a Roman province, under 
the name of Achaia. 

133. Numantium is destroyed by Scipio ^^Emilianus. " The 
war against the Spaniards, who, of all the nations subdued 
by the Romans, defended their liberty with the greatest 
obstinacy, began in the year 200, six years after the total 
expulsion of the Carthaginians from their country, 206. It 
was exceedingly obstinate, partly from the natural state of 
the country, which was thickly populated, and where every 
place became a fortress ; partly from the courage of the 
inhabitants ; but at last all, owing to the peculiar policy of 
the Romans, who yielded to employ their allies to subdue 
other nations. This war continued, almost without interrup- 
tion, from the year 200 to 133, and was for the most part 
carried on at the same time in Hispania Citerior, where the 
Celtiberi were the most formidable adversaries, and in His- 
pania Ulterior, where the Lusitani were equally powerful. 
Hostilities were at the highest pitch in 195, under Cato, who 
reduced Hispania Citerior to a state of tranquillity in 185-179, 
when the Celtiberi were attacked in their native territory ; 
and 155-150, when the Romans in both provinces were so 
often beaten that nothing was more dreaded by the soldiers 
at home than to be sent there. The extortions and perfidy 
of Servius Galba placed Viriathus, in the year 146, at the 
head of his nations, the Lusitani : the war, however, soon 
extended itself to Hispania Citerior, where many nations, par- 
ticularly the Numantines, took up arms against Rome, 143. 
Viriathus, sometimes victorious and sometimes defeated, was 
never more formidable than in the moment of defeat ; because 
he knew how to take advantage of his knowledge of the coun- 
try and of the dispositions of his countrymen. After his 
murder, caused by the treachery of Ssepio, 140, Lusitania was 
subdued ; but the Numantine war became still more violent, 
and the Numantines compelled the consul Mancinus to a dis- 
advantageous treaty, 137. When Scipio, in the year 133, put 
an end to this war, Spain was certainly tranquil ; the north- 



207B.C.] BATTLE OF THE METAURUS II9 

ern parts, however, were still unsubdued, though the Romans 
penetrated as far as Galatia." [Heeren.] 

134. Commencement of the revolutionary century at Rome, 
i.e. from the time of the excitement produced by the at- 
tempts made by the Gracchi to reform the commonwealth 
to the battle of Actium, 31 B.C., which established Octavianus 
Caesar as sole master of the Roman world. Throughout this 
period Rome was engaged in important foreign wars, most of 
which procured large accessions to her territory. 

118 to 106. The Jugurthine war. Numidia is conquered 
and made a Roman province. 

113 to lOi. The great and terrible war of the Cimbri and 
Teutones against Rome. These nations of northern warriors 
slaughter several Roman armies in Gaul, and in 102 attempt 
to penetrate into Italy. The military genius of Marius here 
saves his country; he defeats the Teutones near Aix, in Pro- 
vence ; and in the following year he destroys the army of the 
Cimbri, who had passed the Alps, near Vercellse, 

91 to 88. The war of the Italian allies against Rome. This 
was caused by the refusal of Rome to concede to them the 
rights of Roman citizenship. After a sanguine struggle, Rome 
gradually grants it. 

89 to 85. First war of the Romans against Mithridates the 
Great, king of Pontus, who had overrun Asia Minor, Mace- 
donia, and Greece. Sylla defeats his armies, and forces him 
to withdraw his forces from Europe. Sylla returns to Rome 
to carry on the civil war against the son and partisans of 
Marius. He makes himself dictator. 

74 to 64. The last Mithridatic wars. Lucullus, and after 
him Pompeius, command against the great king of Pontus, 
who at last is poisoned by his son, while designing to raise 
the warlike tribes of the Danube against Rome, and to invade 
Italy from the northeast. Great Asiatic conquests of the 
Romans. Besides the ancient province of Pergamus, the 
maritime countries of Bithynia, and nearly all Paphlagonia 
and Pontus, are formed into a Roman province, under the 
name of Bithynia; while on the southern coast Cilicia and 
Pamphylia form another, under the name of Cilicia ; Phoenicia 
and Syria compose a third, under the name of Syria. On the 
other hand. Great Armenia is left to Tigranes, Cappadocia to 



I20 DECISIVE BATTLES [207 B.C. 

Ariobarzanes, the Bosphorus to Pharnaces, Judaea to Hyrca- 
nus ; and some other small states are also given to petty 
princes, all of whom remain dependent on Rome. 

58 to 50. Cassar conquers Gaul. 

54. Crassus attacks the Parthians with a Roman army, but 
is overthrown and killed at Carrhae in Mesopotamia. His 
lieutenant Cassius collects the wrecks of the army, and pre- 
vents the Parthians from conquering Syria. 

49 to 45. The civil war between Caesar and the Pompeian 
party. Caesar drives Pompeius out of Italy, conquers his 
enemy's forces in Spain, and then passes into Greece, where 
Pompeius and the other aristocratic chiefs had assembled a 
large army. Caesar gives them a decisive defeat at the great 
battle of Pharsalia. Pompeius flies for refuge to Alexandria, 
where he is assassinated. Caesar, who had followed him 
thither, is involved in a war with the Egyptians, in which he 
is finally victorious. The celebrated Cleopatra is made queen 
of Egypt. Caesar next marches into Pontus, and defeats the 
son of Mithridates, who had taken part in the war against 
him. He then proceeds to the Roman province of Africa, 
where some of the Pompeian chiefs had established them- 
selves, aided by Juba, a native prince. He overthrows them 
at the battle of Thapsus. He is again obliged to lead an 
army into Spain, where the sons of Pompeius had collected 
the wrecks of their father's party. He crushes the last of his 
enemies at the battle of Munda. Under the title of dictator, 
he is sole master of the Roman world. 

44. Caesar is killed in the senate-house ; the civil wars are 
soon renewed, Brutus and Cassius being at the head of the 
aristocratic party, and the party of Caesar being led by Mark 
Antony and Octavianus Caesar, afterwards Augustus. 

42. Defeat and death of Brutus and Cassius at Philippi. 
Dissensions soon break out between Octavianus Caesar and 
Antony. 

31. Antony is completely defeated by Octavianus Caesar 
at Actium. He flies to Egypt with Cleopatra. Octavianus 
pursues him. Antony and Cleopatra kill themselves. Egypt 
becomes a Roman province, and Octavianus Caesar is left 
undisputed master of Rome, and all that is Rome's. 

The forty-fourth year of the reign of Augustus, and the 



207 B.C.] BATTLE OF THE METAURUS 121 

first year of the 195th Olympiad, is commonly assigned as the 
date of the Nativity of our Lord. There is much of the beauty 
of holiness in the remarks with which the American historian 
Eliot closes his survey of the conquering career and civil 
downfall of the Roman commonwealth : — 

" So far as humility amongst men was necessary for the 
preparation of a truer freedom than could ever be known 
under heathenism, the part of Rome, however dreadful, was 
yet sublime. It was not to unite, to discipline, or to fortify 
humanity, but to enervate, to loosen, and to scatter its forces, 
that the people whose history we have read were allowed to 
conquer the earth, and were then themselves reduced to deep 
submission. Every good labor of theirs that failed was, by 
reason of what we esteem its failure, a step gained nearer to 
the end of the well-nigh universal evil that prevailed ; while 
every bad achievement that may seem to us to have succeeded, 
temporarily or lastingly, with them was equally, by reason of 
its success, a progress towards the good of which the coming 
would have been longed and prayed for could it have been 
comprehended. Alike in the virtues and in the vices of 
antiquity, we may read the progress towards its humiliation.^ 
Yet, on the other hand, it must not seem, at the last, that the 
disposition of the Romans or of mankind to submission was 
secured solely through the errors and the apparently ineffec- 
tual toils which we have traced back to these times of old. 
Desires too true to have been wasted, and strivings too 
humane to have been unproductive, though all were over- 
shadowed by passing wrongs, still gleam as if in anticipation 
or in preparation of the advancing day. 

" At length, when it had been proved by ages of conflict 
and loss that no lasting joy and no abiding truth could be 
procured through the power, the freedom, or the faith of 
mankind, the angels sang their song in which the glory of 
God and the good-will of men were together blended. The 
universe was wrapped in momentary tranquillity, and ' peace- 
ful was the night ' above the manger at Bethlehem. We may 
believe that when the morning came, the ignorance, the con- 
fusion, and the servitude of humanity had left their darkest 
forms amongst the midnight clouds. It was still, indeed, 
beyond the power of man to lay hold securely of the charity 



122 DECISIVE BATTLES [207 B.C. 

and the regeneration that were henceforth to be his law ; and 
the indefinable terrors of the future, whether seen from the 
West or from the East, were not at once to be dispelled. 
But before the death of the Emperor Augustus, in the midst 
of his fallen subjects, the business of the Father had already- 
been begun in the temple at Jerusalem ; and, near by, the 
Son was increasing in wisdom and in stature, and in favor 
with God and man." 

1 Note. — " The Christian revelation," says Leland, in his truly admirable 
work on the subject, " was made to the world at a time when it was most 
wanted ; when the darkness and corruption of mankind were arrived at the 
height. ... If it had been published much sooner, and before there had 
been a full trial made of what was to be expected from human wisdom and 
philosophy, the great need men stood in of such an extraordinary and divine 
dispensation would not have been so apparent." 



9A.D.] ARMINIUS 123 



CHAPTER V 

Victory of Artninius over the Ro?nan Legions under Varus, 9 a,d. 

" Hac clade factum, ut Imperium quod in littore oceani non steterat, in 
ripa Rheni fluminis staret." — Florus. 

TO a truly illustrious Frenchman, whose reverses as a 
minister can never obscure his achievements in the 
world of letters, we are indebted for the most pro- 
found and most eloquent estimate that we possess of the 
importance of the Germanic element in European civiliza- 
tion, and of the extent to which the human race is indebted 
to those brave warriors who long were the unconquered 
antagonists, and finally became the conquerors, of Imperial 
Rome. 

Twenty-three eventful years have passed away since M. 
Guizot delivered from the chair of modern history at Paris 
his course of lectures on the History of Civilization in Europe. 
During those years the spirit of earnest inquiry into the germs 
and early developments of existing institutions has become 
more and more active and universal ; and the merited celeb- 
rity of M. Guizot's work has proportionally increased. Its 
admirable analysis of the complex political and social organi- 
zations of which the modern civilized world is made up must 
have led thousands to trace with keener interest the great 
crises of times past, by which the characteristics of the pres- 
ent were determined. The narrative of one of these great 
crises, of the epoch 9 a.d., when Germany took up arms for 
her independence against Roman invasion, has for us this 
special attraction — that it forms part of our own national 
history. Had Arminius been supine or unsuccessful, our 
Germanic ancestors would have been enslaved or extermi- 
nated in their original seats along the Eyder and the Elbe ; 
this island would never have borne the name of England, and 



124 DECISIVE BATTLES [9 a.d. 

"we, this great English nation, whose race and language are 
now overrunning the earth, from one end of it to the other," 
[Arnold] would have been utterly cut off from existence. 

Arnold may, indeed, go too far in holding that we are 
wholly unconnected in race with the Romans and Britons 
who inhabited this country before the coming over of the 
Saxons ; that, " nationally speaking, the history of Caesar's 
invasion has no more to do with us than the natural history 
of the animals which then inhabited our forests." There 
seems ample evidence to prove that the Romanized Celts, 
whom our Teutonic forefathers found here, influenced mate- 
rially the character of our nation. But the main stream of 
our people was and is Germanic. Our language alone deci- 
sively proves this. Arminius is far more truly one of our 
national heroes than Caractacus : and it was our own pri- 
meval fatherland that the brave German rescued when he 
slaughtered the Roman legions eighteen centuries ago in the 
marshy glens between the Lippe and the Ems. 

Dark and disheartening, even to heroic spirits, must have 
seemed the prospects of Germany when Arminius planned 
the general rising of his countrymen against Rome. Half 
the land was occupied by Roman garrisons ; and, what was 
worse, many of the Germans seemed patiently acquiescent 
in their state of bondage. The braver portion, whose patri- 
otism could be relied on, was ill-armed and undisciplined ; 
while the enemy's troops consisted of veterans in the highest 
state of equipment and training, familiarized with victory, 
and commanded by officers of proved skill and valor. The 
resources of Rome seemed boundless ; her tenacity of pur- 
pose was believed to be invincible. There was no hope of 
foreign sympathy or aid ; for the self-governing powers that 
had filled the old world had bent one after another before 
the rising power of Rome, and had vanished. The earth 
seemed left void of independent nations. 

The German chieftain knew well the gigantic power of 
the oppressor. Arminius was no rude savage, fighting out 
of mere animal instinct, or in ignorance of the might of his 
adversary. He was familiar with the Roman language and 
civilization ; he had served in the Roman armies ; he had 
been admitted to the Roman citizenship, and raised to the 



9 A.D.] ARMINIUS 125 

dignity of the equestrian order. It was part of the subtle 
policy of Rome to confer rank and privileges on the youth 
of the leading families in the nations which she wished to 
enslave. Among other young German chieftains, Arminius 
and his brother, who were the heads of the noblest house in 
the tribe of the Cherusci, had been selected as fit objects for 
the exercise of this insidious system. Roman refinements 
and dignities succeeded in denationalizing the brother, who 
assumed the Roman name of Flavius, and adhered to Rome 
throughout all her wars against his country. Arminius 
remained unbought by honors or wealth, uncorrupted by 
refinement or luxury. He aspired to and obtained from 
Roman enmity a higher title than ever could have been 
given him by Roman favor. It is in the page of Rome's 
greatest historian that his name has come down to us with 
the proud addition of " Liberator baud dubie Germaniae." 

Often must the young chieftain, while meditating the 
exploit which has thus immortalized him, have anxiously 
revolved in his mind the fate of the many great men who 
had been crushed in the attempt which he was about to 
renew — the attempt to stay the chariot-wheels of triumphant 
Rome. Could he hope to succeed where Hannibal and 
Mithridates had perished .'' What had been the doom of 
Viriathus ? and what warning against vain valor was written 
on the desolate site where Numantia once had flourished .-' 
Nor was a caution wanting in scenes nearer home and in 
more recent times. The Gauls had fruitlessly struggled for 
eight years against Caesar ; and the gallant Vercingetorix, 
who in the last year of the war had roused all his country- 
men to insurrection, who had cut off Roman detachments, 
and brought Caesar himself to the extreme of peril at Alesia 
— he, too, had finally succumbed, had been led captive in 
Caesar's triumph, and had then been butchered in cold blood 
in a Roman dungeon. 

It was true that Rome was no longer the great military 
republic which for so many ages had shattered the kingdoms 
of the world. Her system of government was changed ; 
and, after a century of revolution and civil war, she had 
placed herself under the despotism of a single ruler. But 
the discipline of her troops was yet unimpaired, and her war- 



126 DECISIVE BATTLES [9 a.d. 

like spirit seemed unabated. The first years of the empire 
had been signalized by conquests as valuable as any gained 
by the republic in a corresponding period. It is a great fal- 
lacy, though apparently sanctioned by great authorities, to 
suppose that the foreign policy pursued by Augustus was 
pacific. He certainly recommended such a policy to his suc- 
cessors, either from timidity or from jealousy of their fame 
outshining his own ; but he himself, until Arminius broke his 
spirit, had followed a very different course. Besides his Span- 
ish wars, his generals, in a series of principally aggressive cam- 
paigns, had extended the Roman frontier from the Alps to 
the Danube ; and had reduced into subjection the large and 
important countries that now form the territories of all Aus- 
tria south of that river, and of East Switzerland, Lower 
Wiirtemberg, Bavaria, the Valtelline, and the Tyrol. While 
the progress of the Roman arms thus pressed the Germans 
from the south, still more formidable inroads had been made 
by the imperial legions in the west. Roman armies, moving 
from the province of Gaul, established a chain of fortresses 
along the right as well as the left bank of the Rhine, and, in 
a series of victorious campaigns, advanced their eagles as far 
as the Elbe, which now seemed added to the list of vassal 
rivers — to the Nile, the Rhine, the Rhone, the Danube, the 
Tagus, the Seine, and many more — that acknowledged the 
supremacy of the Tiber. Roman fleets also, sailing from 
the harbors of Gaul along the German coasts and up the 
estuaries, cooperated with the land forces of the empire, and 
seemed to display, even more decisively than her armies, her 
overwhelming superiority over the rude Germanic tribes. 
Throughout the territory thus invaded the Romans had, with 
their usual military skill, established chains of fortified posts ; 
and a powerful army of occupation was kept on foot, ready 
to move instantly on any spot where a popular outbreak 
might be attempted. 

Vast, however, and admirably organized as the fabric of 
Roman power appeared on the frontiers and in the prov- 
inces, there was rottenness at the core. In Rome's unceas- 
ing hostilities with foreign foes, and, still more, in her long 
series of desolating civil wars, the free middle classes of 
Italy had almost wholly disappeared. Above the position 



9A.D.] ARMINIUS 127 

which they had occupied, an oHgarchy of wealth had reared 
itself ; beneath that position a degraded mass of poverty 
and misery was fermenting. Slaves, the chance sweepings 
of every conquered country, shoals of Africans, Sardinians, 
Asiatics, Illyrians, and others, made up the bulk of the pop- 
ulation of the Italian peninsula. The foulest profligacy of 
manners was general in all ranks. In universal weariness 
of revolution and civil war, and in consciousness of being 
too debased for self-government, the nation had submitted 
itself to the absolute authority of Augustus. Adulation was 
now the chief function of the senate ; and the gifts of genius 
and accomplishments of art were devoted to the elaboration 
of eloquently false panegyrics upon the prince and his fav- 
orite courtiers. With bitter indignation must the German 
chieftain have beheld all this, and contrasted with it the 
rough worth of his own countrymen — their bravery, their 
fidelity to their word, their manly independence of spirit, 
their love of their national free institutions, and their loath- 
ing of every pollution and meanness. Above all, he must 
have thought of the domestic virtues that hallowed a Ger- 
man home ; of the respect there shown to the female char- 
acter, and of the pure affection by which that respect was 
repaid. His soul must have burned within him at the con- 
templation of such a race yielding to these debased Italians. 
Still, to persuade the Germans to combine, in spite of their 
frequent feuds among themselves, in one sudden outbreak 
against Rome ; to keep the scheme concealed from the 
Romans until the hour for action had arrived; and then, 
without possessing a single walled town, without military 
stores, without training, to teach his insurgent countrymen 
to defeat veteran armies and storm fortifications, seemed so 
perilous an enterprise that probably Arminius would have 
receded from it, had not a stronger feeling even than patri- 
otism urged him on. Among the Germans of high rank who 
had most readily submitted to the invaders and become zeal- 
ous partisans of Roman authority, was a chieftain named 
Segestes. His daughter, Thusnelda, was preeminent among 
the noble maidens of Germany. Arminius had sought her 
hand in marriage ; but Segestes, who probably discerned the 
young chief's disaffection to Rome, forbade his suit, and 



128 DECISIVE BATTLES [9 a.d. 

Strove to preclude all communication between him and his 
daughter. Thusnelda, however, sympathized far more with 
the heroic spirit of her lover than with the time-serving pol- 
icy of her father. An elopement baffled the precautions of 
Segestes ; who, disappointed in his hope of preventing the 
marriage, accused Arminius, before the Roman governor, of 
having carried off his daughter, and of planning treason 
against Rome. Thus assailed, and dreading to see his bride 
torn from him by the officials of the foreign oppressor, 
Arminius delayed no longer, but bent all his energies to 
organize and execute a general insurrection of the great 
mass of his countrymen, who hitherto had submitted in sul- 
len inertness to the Roman dominion. 

A change of governors had recently taken place, which, 
while it materially favored the ultimate success of the insur- 
gents, served, by the immediate aggravation of the Roman 
oppressions which it produced, to make the native popula- 
tion more universally eager to take arms. Tiberius, who was 
afterwards emperor, had lately been recalled from the com- 
mand in Germany, and sent into Pannonia to put down a 
dangerous revolt which had broken out against the Romans 
in that province. The German patriots were thus delivered 
from the stern supervision of one of the most suspicious of 
mankind, and were also relieved from having to contend 
against the high military talents of a veteran commander, 
who thoroughly understood their national character and the 
nature of the country, which he himself had principally sub- 
dued. In the room of Tiberius, Augustus sent into Germany 
Quintilius Varus, who had lately returned from the procon- 
sulate of Syria. Varus was a true representative of the 
higher classes of the Romans ; among whom a general taste 
for literature, a keen susceptibility to all intellectual gratifica- 
tions, a minute acquaintance with the principles and practice 
of their own national jurisprudence, a careful training in the 
schools of the rhetoricians, and a fondness for either partak- 
ing in or watching the intellectual strife of forensic oratory, 
had become generally diffused ; without, however, having 
humanized the old Roman spirit of cruel indifference for 
human feelings and human sufferings, and without acting as 
the least check on unprincipled avarice and ambition, or on 



9A.D.] ARMINIUS 129 

habitual and gross profligacy. Accustomed to govern the 
depraved and debased natives of Syria, a country where 
courage in man and virtue in woman had for centuries been 
unknown, Varus thought that he might gratify his licentious 
and rapacious passions with equal impunity among the high- 
minded sons and pure-spirited daughters of Germany. When 
the general of an army sets the example of outrages of this 
description, he is soon faithfully imitated by his officers, and 
surpassed by his still more brutal soldiery. The Romans 
now habitually indulged in those violations of the sanctity 
of the domestic shrine, and those insults upon honor and 
modesty, by which far less gallant spirits than those of our 
Teutonic ancestors have often been maddened into insur- 
rection. ^ 

Arminius found among the other German chiefs many who 
sympathized with him in his indignation at their country's 
debasement, and many whom private wrongs had stung yet 
more deeply. There was little difficulty in collecting bold 
leaders for an attack on the oppressors, and little fear of the 
population not rising readily at those leaders' call. But to 
declare open war against Rome, and to encounter Varus's 
army in a pitched battle, would have been merely rushing upon 
certain destruction. Varus had three legions under him, a 
force which, after allowing for detachments, cannot be esti- 
mated at less than fourteen thousand Roman infantry. He 
had also eight or nine hundred Roman cavalry, and at least 
an equal number of horse and foot sent from the allied states, 
or raised among those provincials who had not received the 
Roman franchise. 

It was not merely the number, but the quality of this force 
that made it formidable ; and however contemptible Varus 
might be as a general, Arminius well knew how admirably 
the Roman armies were organized and officered, and how 
perfectly the legionaries understood every maneuver and 
every duty which the varying emergencies of a stricken field 
might require. Stratagem was, therefore, indispensable ; and 
it was necessary to blind Varus to his schemes until a favor- 
able opportunity should arrive for striking a decisive blow. 

For this purpose the German confederates frequented the 
headquarters of Varus, which seem to have been near the cen- 



I30 DECISIVE BATTLES [9 a.d. 

ter of the modern country of Westphalia, where the Roman 
general conducted himself with all the arrogant security of 
the governor of a perfectly submissive province. There 
Varus gratified at once his vanity, his rhetorical taste, and 
his avarice, by holding courts, to which he summoned the 
Germans for the settlement of all their disputes, while a bar 
of Roman advocates attended to argue the cases before the 
tribunal of the proconsul, who did not omit the opportunity 
of exacting court fees and accepting bribes. Varus trusted 
implicitly to the respect which the Germans pretended to pay 
to his abilities as a judge, and to the interest which they 
affected to take in the forensic eloquence of their conquerors. 
Meanwhile a succession of heavy rains rendered the country 
more difficult for the operations of regular troops ; and Ar- 
minius, seeing that the infatuation of Varus was complete, 
secretly directed the tribes near the Weser and the Ems to 
take up arms in open revolt against the Romans. This was 
represented to Varus as an occasion which required his 
prompt attendance at the spot ; but he was kept in studied 
ignorance of its being part of a concerted national rising; 
and he still looked on Arminius as his submissive vassal, 
whose aid he might rely on in facilitating the march of his 
troops against the rebels, and in extinguishing the local dis- 
turbance. He therefore set his army in motion, and marched 
eastward in a line parallel to the course of the Lippe. For 
some distance his route lay along a level plain ; but on arriv- 
ing at the tract between the curve of the upper part of that 
stream and the sources of the Ems, the country assumes a 
very different character; and here, in the territory of the 
modern little principality of Lippe, it was that Arminius had 
fixed the scene of his enterprise. 

A woody and hilly region intervenes between the heads of 
the two rivers, and forms the watershed of their streams. 
This region still retains the name (Teutoberger Wald — 
TeiUobergiensis salt7is) which it bore in the days of Arminius. 
The nature of the ground has probably also remained unal- 
tered. The eastern part of it, round Detmoldt, the present 
capital of the principality of Lippe, is described by a modern 
German scholar. Dr. Plate, as being " a table-land intersected 
by numerous deep and narrow valleys, which in some places 



9A.D.] ARMINIUS 131 

form small plains, surrounded by steep mountains and rocks, 
and only accessible by narrow defiles. All the valleys are 
traversed by rapid streams, shallow in the dry season, but 
subject to sudden swellings in autumn and winter. The vast 
forests which cover the summits and slopes of the hills con- 
sist chiefly of oak ; there is little underwood, and both men 
and horse would move with ease in the forests if the ground 
were not broken by gullies or rendered impracticable by 
fallen trees." This is the district to which Varus is supposed 
to have marched ; and Dr. Plate adds that " the names of 
several localities on and near that spot seem to indicate that 
a great battle had once been fought there. We find the 
names * das Winnefeld ' (the field of victory), * die Knochen- 
bahn ' (the bone-lane), ' die Knochenleke ' (the bone-brook), 
' der Mordkessel ' (the kettle of slaughter), and others." 

Contrary to the usual strict principles of Roman discipline. 
Varus had suffered his army to be accompanied and impeded 
by an immense train of baggage wagons and by a rabble of 
camp-followers, as if his troops had been merely changing 
their quarters in a friendly country. When the long array 
quitted the firm level ground and began to wind its way 
among the woods, the marshes, and the ravines, the diffi- 
culties of the march, even without the intervention of an 
armed foe, became fearfully apparent. In many places the 
soil, sodden with rain, was impracticable for cavalry and even 
for infantry, until trees had been felled, and a rude causeway 
formed through the morass. 

The duties of the engineer were familiar to all who served 
in the Roman armies. But the crowd and confusion of the 
columns embarrassed the working parties of the soldiery, and 
in the midst of their toil and disorder the word was suddenly 
passed through their ranks that the rear-guard was attacked 
by the barbarians. Varus resolved on pressing forward ; but 
a heavy discharge of missiles from the woods on either flank 
taught him how serious was the peril, and he saw the best 
men falling round him without the opportunity of retaliation ; 
for his light-armed auxiliaries, who were principally of Ger- 
manic race, now rapidly deserted, and it was impossible to 
deploy the legionaries on such broken ground for a charge 
against the enemy. Choosing one of the most open and firm 



132 DECISIVE BATTLES [9 a.d. 

spots which they could force their way to, the Romans halted 
for the night; and, faithful to their national discipline and 
tactics, formed their camp amid the harassing attacks of the 
rapidly thronging foes, with the elaborate toil and systematic 
skill the traces of which are impressed permanently on the 
soil of so many European countries, attesting the presence 
in the olden time of the imperial eagles. 

On the morrow the Romans renewed their march, the 
veteran officers who served under Varus now probably direct- 
ing the operations, and hoping to find the Germans drawn up 
to meet them, in which case they relied on their own supe- 
rior discipline and tactics for such a victory as should reassure 
the supremacy of Rome. But Arminius was far too sage a 
commander to lead on his followers, with their unwieldy 
broadswords and inefficient defensive armor, against the Ro- 
man legionaries, fully armed with helmet, cuirass, greaves, 
and shield ; who were skilled to commence the conflict with a 
murderous volley of heavy javelins, hurled upon the foe when 
a few yards distant, and then, with their short cut-and-thrust 
swords, to hew their way through all opposition ; preserving 
the utmost steadiness and coolness, and obeying each word 
of command in the midst of strife and slaughter with the 
same precision and alertness as if upon parade. Arminius 
suffered the Romans to march out from their camp, to form 
first in line for action, and then in column for marching, with- 
out the show of opposition. For some distance Varus was 
allowed to move on, only harassed by slight skirmishes, but 
struggling with difficulty through the broken ground, the 
toil and distress of his men being aggravated by heavy tor- 
rents of rain, which burst upon the devoted legions as if the 
angry gods of Germany were pouring out the vials of their 
wrath upon the invaders. After some little time their van 
approached a ridge of high woody ground, which is one of 
the offshoots of the great Hercynian forest, and is situated 
between the modern villages of Driburg and Bielefeld. 
Arminius had caused barricades of hewn trees to be formed 
here, so as to add to the natural difficulties of the passage. 
Fatigue and discouragement now began to betray themselves 
in the Roman ranks. Their line became less steady ; bag- 
gage wagons were abandoned from the impossibility of fore- 



9A.D.] ARMINIUS 133 

ing them along; and, as this happened, many soldiers left 
their ranks and crowded round the wagons to secure the most 
valuable portions of their property ; each was busy about his 
own affairs, and purposely slow in hearing the word of com- 
mand from his officers. Arminius now gave the signal for a 
general attack. The fierce shouts of the Germans pealed 
through the gloom of the forests, and in thronging multitudes 
they assailed the flanks of the invaders, pouring in clouds of 
darts on the encumbered legionaries, as they struggled up 
the glens or floundered in the morasses, and watching every 
opportunity of charging through the intervals of the dis- 
jointed column, and so cutting off the communication between 
its several brigades. Arminius, with a chosen band of per- 
sonal retainers round him, cheered on his countrymen by 
voice and example. He and his men aimed their weapons 
particularly at the horses of the Roman cavalry. The 
wounded animals, slipping about in the mire and their own 
blood, threw their riders, and plunged among the ranks of 
the legions, disordering all round them. Varus now ordered 
the troops to be countermarched, in the hope of reaching the 
nearest Roman garrison on the Lippe.^ But retreat was now 
as impracticable as advance ; and the falling back of the 
Romans only augmented the courage of their assailants, and 
caused fiercer and more frequent charges on the flanks of the 
disheartened army. The Roman officer who commanded the 
cavalry, Numonius Vala, rode off with his squadrons, in 
the vain hope of escaping by thus abandoning his comrades. 
Unable to keep together, or force their way across the woods 
and swamps, the horsemen were overpowered in detail and 
slaughtered to the last man. The Roman infantry still held 
together and resisted, but more through the instinct of disci- 
pline and bravery than from any hope of success or escape. 
Varus, after being severely wounded in a charge of the Ger- 
mans against his part of the column, committed suicide to 
avoid falling into the hands of those whom he had exasper- 
ated by his oppressions. One of the lieutenant-generals of 
the army fell fighting ; the other surrendered to the enemy. 
But mercy to a fallen foe had never been a Roman virtue, 
and those among her legions who now laid down their arms 
in hope of quarter drank deep of the cup of suffering which 



134 DECISIVE BATTLES [9 A.D. 

Rome had held to the lips of many a brave but unfortunate 
enemy. The infuriated Germans slaughtered their oppress- 
ors with deliberate ferocity ; and those prisoners who were 
not hewn to pieces on the spot were only preserved to perish 
by a more cruel death in cold blood. 

The bulk of the Roman army fought steadily and stub- 
bornly, frequently repelling the masses of the assailants, but 
gradually losing the compactness of their array, and becom- 
ing weaker and weaker beneath the incessant shower of darts 
and the reiterated assaults of the vigorous and unencumbered 
Germans. At last, in a series of desperate attacks the column 
was pierced through and through, two of the eagles captured, 
and the Roman host, which on the yester-morning had marched 
forth in such pride and might, now broken up into confused 
fragments, either fell fighting beneath the overpowering num- 
bers of the enemy, or perished in the swamps and woods in 
unavailing efforts at flight. Few, very few, ever saw again 
the left bank of the Rhine. One body of brave veterans, 
arraying themselves in a ring on a little mound, beat off every 
charge of the Germans, and prolonged their honorable resist- 
ance to the close of that dreadful day. The traces of a feeble 
attempt at forming a ditch and mound attested in after-years 
the spot where the last of the Romans passed their night of 
suffering and despair. But on the morrow this remnant also, 
worn out with hunger, wounds, and toil, was charged by the 
victorious Germans, and either massacred on the spot, or 
offered up in fearful rites at the altars of the deities of the 
old mythology of the north. 

A gorge in the mountain ridge, through which runs the 
modern road between Paderborn and Pyrmont, leads from 
the spot where the heat of the battle raged to the Exter- 
steine, a cluster of bold and grotesque rocks of sandstone, 
near which is a small sheet of water, overshadowed by a grove 
of aged trees. According to local tradition, this was one of 
the sacred groves of the ancient Germans, and it was here 
that the Roman captives were slain in sacrifice by the victori- 
ous warriors of Arminius. 

Never was victory more decisive, never was the liberation 
of an oppressed people more instantaneous and complete. 
Throughout Germany the Roman garrisons were assailed and 



9 A.D.] ARiMINIUS 135 

cut off ; and within a few weeks after Varus had fallen, the 
German soil was freed from the foot of an invader. 

At Rome, the tidings of the battle were received with an 
agony of terror, the descriptions of which we should deem 
exaggerated did they not come from Roman historians them- 
selves. These passages in the Roman writers not only tell 
emphatically how great was the awe which the Romans felt 
of the prowess of the Germans, if their various tribes could 
be brought to reunite for a common purpose,^ but also they 
reveal how weakened and debased the population of Italy had 
become. Dion Cassius says : " Then Augustus, when he heard 
the calamity of Varus, rent his garments, and was in great 
affliction for the troops he had lost, and for terror respecting 
the Germans and the Gauls. And his chief alarm was, that 
he expected them to push on against Italy and Rome : and 
there remained no Roman youth fit for military duty, that 
were worth speaking of, and the allied populations that were 
at all serviceable had been wasted away. Yet he prepared for 
the emergency as well as his means allowed ; and when none 
of the citizens of military age were willing to enlist he made 
them cast lots, and punished by confiscation of goods and dis- 
franchisement every fifth man among those under thirty-five, 
and every tenth man of those above that age. At last, when 
he found that not even thus could he make many come for- 
ward, he put some of them to death. So he made a con- 
scription of discharged veterans and emancipated slaves, and, 
collecting as large a force as he could, sent it, under Tiberius, 
with all speed into Germany." 

Dion mentions also a number of terrific portents that were 
believed to have occurred at the time ; and the narration of 
which is not immaterial, as it shows the state of the public 
mind, when such things were so believed in and so inter- 
preted. The summits of the Alps were said to have fallen, 
and three columns of fire to have blazed up from them. In 
the Campus Martius, the temple of the War-god, from whom 
the founder of Rome had sprung, was struck by a thunder- 
bolt. The nightly heavens glowed several times, as if on fire. 
Many comets blazed forth together ; and fiery meteors, shaped 
like spears, had shot from the northern quarter of the sky 
down into the Roman camps. It was said, too, that a statue 



136 DECISIVE BATTLES [9 a.d. 

of Victory, which had stood at a place on the frontier, point- 
ing the way towards Germany, had of its own accord turned 
round, and now pointed to Italy. These and other prodigies 
were believed by the multitude to accompany the slaughter of 
Varus's legions, and to manifest the anger of the gods against 
Rome. Augustus himself was not free from superstition ; but 
on this occasion no supernatural terrors were needed to increase 
the alarm and grief that he felt ; and which made him, even 
for months after the news of the battle had arrived, often 
beat his head against the wall, and exclaim, " Quintilius 
Varus, give me back my legions ! " We learn this from his 
biographer, Suetonius ; and, indeed, every ancient writer who 
alludes to the overthrow of Varus attests the importance of 
the blow against the Roman power, and the bitterness with 
which it was felt. 

The Germans did not pursue their victory beyond their own 
territory. But that victory secured at once and forever the 
independence of the Teutonic race. Rome sent, indeed, her 
legions again into Germany, to parade a temporary superior- 
ity ; but all hopes of permanent conquest were abandoned by 
Augustus and his successors. 

The blow which Arminius had struck never was forgotten. 
Roman fear disguised itself under the specious title of mod- 
eration ; and the Rhine became the acknowledged boundary 
of the two nations until the fifth century of our era, when the 
Germans became the assailants, and carved with their con- 
quering swords the provinces of Imperial Rome into the king- 
doms of modern Europe. 

ARMINIUS 

I have said above that the great Cheruscan is more truly 
one of our national heroes than Caractacus is. It may be 
added that an Englishman is entitled to claim a closer degree 
of relationship with Arminius than can be claimed by any 
German of modern Germany. The proof of this depends on 
the proof of four facts : first, that the Cherusci were Old 
Saxons, or Saxons of the interior of Germany ; secondly, that 
the Anglo-Saxons, or Saxons of the coast of Germany, were 
more closely akin than other German tribes were to the Che- 



9A.D.] ARMINIUS 137 

Tuscan Saxons ; thirdly, that the Old Saxons were almost ex- 
terminated by Charlemagne ; fourthly, that the Anglo-Saxons 
are our immediate ancestors. The last of these may be as- 
sumed as an axiom in English history. The proofs of the 
other three are partly philological and partly historical. I 
have not space to go into them here, but they will be found 
in the early chapters of the great work of Dr. Robert Gordon 
Latham on the " English Language," and in the notes of his 
edition of the " Germania of Tacitus." It may be, however, 
here remarked that the present Saxons of Germany are of the 
High-Germanic division of the German race, whereas both 
the Anglo-Saxon and Old Saxon were of the Low-Germanic. 

Being thus the nearest heirs of the glory of Arminius, we 
may fairly devote more attention to his career than, in such 
a work as the present, could be allowed to any individual leader. 
And it is interesting to trace how far his fame survived dur- 
ing the Middle Ages, both among the Germans of the Conti- 
nent and among ourselves. 

It seems probable that the jealousy with which Maraboduus, 
the king of the Suevi and Marcomanni, regarded Arminius, 
and which ultimately broke out into open hostilities between 
those German tribes and the Cherusci. prevented Arminius 
from leading the confederate Germans to attack Italy after 
his first victory. Perhaps he may have had the rare modera- 
tion of being content with the liberation of his country, with- 
out seeking to retaliate on her former oppressors. When 
Tiberius marched into Germany in the year 10, Arminius was 
too cautious to attack him on ground favorable to the legions, 
and Tiberius was too skilful to entangle his troops in difficult 
parts of the country. His march and countermarch were as 
unresisted as they were unproductive. A few years later, 
when a dangerous revolt of the Roman legions near the fron- 
tier caused their generals to find them active employment by 
leading them into the interior of Germany, we find Arminius 
again energetic in his country's defense. The old quarrel 
between him and his father-in-law, Segestes, had broken out 
afresh. Segestes now called in the aid of the Roman general, 
Germanicus, to whom he surrendered himself ; and by his 
contrivance his daughter Thusnelda, the wife of Arminius, 
also came into the hands of the Romans, being far advanced 



138 DECISIVE BATTLES [9 a.d. 

in pregnancy. She showed, as Tacitus relates, more of the 
spirit of her husband than of her father — a spirit that could 
not be subdued into tears or supplications. She was sent to 
Ravenna, and there gave birth to a son, whose life we find, 
from an allusion in Tacitus, to have been eventful and un- 
happy ; but the part of the great historian's work which nar- 
rated his fate has perished, and we only know from another 
quarter that the son of Arminius was, at the age of four years, 
led captive in a triumphal pageant along the streets of Rome. 

The high spirit of Arminius was goaded almost into frenzy 
by these bereavements. The fate of his wife, thus torn from 
him, and of his babe doomed to bondage even before its birth, 
inflamed the eloquent invectives with which he roused his 
countrymen against the home traitors, and against their in- 
vaders, who thus made war upon women and children. Ger- 
manicus had marched his army to the place where Varus had 
perished, and had there paid funeral honors to the ghastly 
relics of his predecessor's legions that he found heaped around 
him.* Arminius lured him to advance a little farther into the 
country, and then assailed him, and fought a battle, which, 
by the Roman accounts, was a drawn one. The effect of it 
was to make Germanicus resolve on retreating to the Rhine. 
He himself, with part of his troops, embarked in some vessels 
on the Ems, and returned by that river, and then by sea ; but 
part of his forces were entrusted to a Roman general, named 
Csecina, to lead them back by land to the Rhine. Arminius 
followed this division on its march, and fought several battles 
with it, in which he inflicted heavy loss on the Romans, cap- 
tured the greater part of their baggage, and would have de- 
stroyed them completely, had not his skilful system of opera- 
tions been finally thwarted by the haste of Inguiomerus, a 
confederate German chief, who insisted on assaulting the 
Romans in their camp, instead of waiting till they were en- 
tangled in the difficulties of the country and assailing their 
columns on the march. 

In the following year the Romans were inactive ; but in the 
year afterwards Germanicus led a fresh invasion. He placed 
his army on shipboard, and sailed to the mouth of the Ems, 
where he disembarked, and marched to the Weser, where he 
encamped, probably in the neighborhood of Minden. Armin- 



9A.D.] ARMINIUS 139 

ius had collected his army on the other side of the river ; and 
a scene occurred, which is powerfully told by Tacitus, and 
which is the subject of a beautiful poem by Praed. It has 
been already mentioned that thfe brother of Arminius, like 
himself, had been trained up, while young, to serve in the 
Roman armies ; but, unlike Arminius, he not only refused to 
quit the Roman service for that of his country, but fought 
against his country with the legions of Germanicus. He had 
assumed the Roman name of Flavius, and had gained con- 
siderable distinction in the Roman service, in which he had 
lost an eye from a wound in battle. When the Roman out- 
posts approached the river Weser, Arminius called out to 
them from the opposite bank, and expressed a wish to see his 
brother. Flavius stepped forward, and Arminius ordered his 
own followers to retire, and requested that the archers should 
be removed from the Roman bank of the river. This was 
done : and the brothers, who apparently had not seen each 
other for some years, began a conversation from the opposite 
sides of the stream, in which Arminius questioned his brother 
respecting the loss of his eye, and what battle it had been lost 
in, and what reward he had received for his wound. Flavius 
told him how the eye was destroyed, and mentioned the 
increased pay that he had on account of its loss, and showed 
the collar and other military decorations that had been given 
him. Arminius mocked at these as badges of slavery ; and 
then each began to try to win the other over — Flavius boast- 
ing the power of Rome, and her generosity to the submissive ; 
Arminius appealing to him in the name of their country's 
gods, of the mother that had borne them, and by the holy 
names of fatherland and freedom, not to prefer being the 
betrayer to being the champion of his country. They soon 
proceeded to mutual taunts and menaces, and Flavius called 
aloud for his horse and his arms, that he might dash across 
the river and attack his brother ; nor would he have been 
checked from doing so, had not the Roman general, Stertinius, 
run up to him, and forcibly detained him. Arminius stood on 
the other bank, threatening the renegade, and defying him to 
battle. 

I shall not be thought to need apology for quoting here the 
stanzas in which Praed has described this scene — a scene 



I40 DECISIVE BATTLES [9 a.d. 

among the most affecting, as well as the most striking, that 
history supplies. It makes us reflect on the desolate position 
of Arminius, with his wife and child captives in the enemy's 
hands, and with his brother a renegade in arms against him. 
The great liberator of our German race stood there, with 
every source of human happiness denied him, except the 
consciousness of doing his duty to his country. 

" Back, back! he fears not foaming flood 

Who fears not steel-clad line : 
No warrior thou of German blood, 

No brother thou of mine. 
Go, earn Rome's chain to load thy neck, 

Her gems to deck thy hilt ; 
And blazon honor's hapless wreck 

With all the gauds of guilt! 

" But wouldst thou have me share the prey ? 

By all that I have done — 
The Varian bones that day by day 

Lie whitening in the sun. 
The legion's trampled panoply, 

The eagle's shattered wing, — 
I would not be for earth or sky 

So scorned and mean a thing. 

" Ho! call me here the wizard, boy, 

Of dark and subtle skill. 
To agonize, but not destroy, 

To curse, but not to kill. 
When swords are out, and shriek and shout 

Leave little room for prayer. 
No fetter on man's arm or heart 

Hangs half so heavy there. 

" I curse him by the gifts the land 

Hath won from him and Rome — 
The riving ax, the wasting brand, 

Rent forest, blazing home. 
I curse him by our country's gods, 

The terrible, the dark. 
The breakers of the Roman rods, 

The smiters of the bark. 

" O misery, that such a ban 
On such a brow should be! 
Why comes he not in battle's van 
His country's chief to be? — 



9 A.D.] ARMINIUS 141 

To stand a comrade by my side, 

The sharer of my fame, 
And worthy of a brother's pride 

And of a brother's name? 

" But it is past! — where heroes press 

And cowards bend the knee 
Arminius is not brotherless ; 

His brethren are the free. 
They come around : one hour, and light 

Will fade from turf and tide, 
Then onward, onward to the fight 

With darkness for our guide. 

" To-night, to-night, when we shall meet 

In combat face to face. 
Then only would Arminius greet 

The renegade's embrace. 
The canker of Rome's guilt shall be 

Upon his dying name ; 
And as he lived in slavery, 

So shall he fall in shame." 

On the day after the Romans had reached the Weser, Ger- 
manicus led his army across that river, and a partial encounter 
took place, in which Arminius was successful. But on the 
succeeding day a general action was fought, in which Arminius 
was severely wounded, and the German infantry routed with 
heavy loss. The horsemen of the two armies encountered 
without either party gaining the advantage. But the Roman 
army remained master of the ground, and claimed a complete 
victory. Germanicus erected a trophy in the field, with a 
vaunting inscription, that the nations between the Rhine and 
the Elbe had been thoroughly conquered by his army. But 
that army speedily made a final retreat to the left bank of the 
Rhine ; nor was the effect of their campaign more durable 
than their trophy. The sarcasm with which Tacitus speaks 
of certain other triumphs of Roman generals over Germans 
may apply to the pageant which Germanicus celebrated on his 
return to Rome from his command of the Roman army of the 
Rhine. The Germans were ^^ triiimphati potitis quam victi." 

After the Romans had abandoned their attempts on Ger- 
many, we find Arminius engaged in hostilities with Maro- 
boduus, the king of the Suevi and Marcomanni, who was 
endeavoring to bring the other German tribes into a state of 



142 DECISIVE BATTLES [9 a.d. 

dependency on him. Arminius was at the head of the Ger- 
mans who took up arms against this home invader of their 
Hberties. After some minor engagements, a pitched battle 
was fought between the two confederacies, 16 a.d., in which 
the loss on each side was equal ; but Maroboduus confessed 
the ascendency of his antagonist by avoiding a renewal of the 
engagement, and by imploring the intervention of the Romans 
in his defense. The younger Drusus then commanded the 
Roman legions in the province of Illyricum, and by his medi- 
ation a peace was concluded between Arminius and Maro- 
boduus, by the terms of which it is evident that the latter 
must have renounced his ambitious schemes against the free- 
dom of the other German tribes. 

Arminius did not long survive this second war of independ- 
ence, which he successfully waged for his country. He was 
assassinated in the thirty-seventh year of his age by some of 
his own kinsmen, who conspired against him. Tacitus says 
that this happened while he was engaged in a civil war, which 
had been caused by his attempts to make himself king over 
his countrymen. It is far more probable (as one of the best 
biographers of Arminius [Dr. Plate] has observed)that Tacitus 
misunderstood an attempt of Arminius to extend his influence 
as elective war-chieftain of the Cherusci and other tribes for 
an attempt to obtain the royal dignity. When we remember 
that his father-in-law and his brother were renegades, we can 
well understand that a party among his kinsmen may have 
been bitterly hostile to him, and have opposed his authority 
with the tribe by open violence, and, when that seemed in- 
effectual, by secret assassination. 

Arminius left a name which the historians of the nation 
against which he combated so long and so gloriously have 
delighted to honor. It is from the most indisputable source, 
from the lips of enemies, that we know his exploits. His 
countrymen made history, but did not write it. But his mem- 
ory lived among them in the lays of their bards, who recorded 

" The deeds he did, the fields he won, 
The freedom he restored." 

Tacitus, many years after the death of Arminius, says of him, 
" Canitur adhuc barbaras apud gentes." As time passed on. 



9 A.D.] ARMINIUS 143 

the gratitude of ancient Germany to her great deliverer grew 
into adoration, and divine honors were paid for centuries to 
Arminius by every tribe of the Low-Germanic division of the 
Teutonic races. The Irmin-sul, or the column of Herman, near 
Eresburg, the modern Stadtberg, was the chosen object of 
worship to the descendants of the Cherusci, the Old Saxons, 
and in defense of which they fought most desperately against 
Charlemagne and his Christianized Franks. " Irmin, in the 
cloudy Olympus of Teutonic belief, appears as a king and a 
warrior ; and the pillar, the ' Irmin-sul,' bearing the statue, 
and considered as the symbol of the deity, was the Palladium 
of the Saxon nation, until the temple of Eresburg was de- 
stroyed by Charlemagne, and the column itself transferred to 
the monastery of Corbey, where, perhaps, a portion of the 
rude rock idol yet remains, covered by the ornaments of the 
Gothic era." [Palgrave.] 

Traces of the worship of Arminius are to be found among 
our Anglo-Saxon ancestors, after their settlements in this 
island. One of the four great highways was held to be under 
the protection of the deity, and was called the " Irmin-street." 
The name Arminius is, of course, the mere Latinized form of 
" Herman," the name by which the hero and the deity were 
known by every man of Low-German blood, on either side 
of the German Sea. It means, etymologically, the "War- 
man," the " man of hosts." No other explanation of the wor- 
ship of the " Irmin-sul," and the name of the " Irmin-street," 
is so satisfactory as that which connects them with the deified 
Arminius. We know for certain of the existence of other 
columns of an analogous character. Thus, there are the 
Roland-seule in North Germany ; there was a Thor-seule in 
Sweden, and (what is more important) there was an Athel- 
stan-seule in Saxon England. 

There is at the present moment a song respecting the Irmin- 
sul current in the bishopric of Minden, one version of which 
might seem only to refer to Charlemagne having pulled down 
the Irmin-sul : — 

" Herman, sla dermen, 

Sla pipen, sla trummen, 

De Kaiser will kummen, 

Met hamer un stangen. 

Will Herman uphangen." 



144 DECISIVE BATTLES [9 a.d. 

But there is another version, which probably is the older, and 
which clearly refers to the great Arminius : — 

" Un Herman slaug dermen ; 
Slaug pipen, slaug trummen ; 
De fiirsten sind kammen, 
Met all eren-mannen 
Hebt Varus uphangen." 

About ten centuries and a half after the demolition of the 
Irmin-sul, and nearly eighteen after the death of Arminius, the 
modern Germans conceived the idea of rendering tardy hom- 
age to their great hero ; and, accordingly, some eight or ten 
years ago, a general subscription was organized in Germany 
for the purpose of erecting, on the Osning, — a conical moun- 
tain, which forms the highest summit of the Teutoberger 
Wald, and is eighteen hundred feet above the level of the sea, 
— a colossal bronze statue of Arminius. The statue was de- 
signed by Bandel. The hero was to stand uplifting a sword 
in his right hand, and looking towards the Rhine. The height 
of the statue was to be eighty feet from the base to the point 
of the sword, and was to stand on a circular Gothic temple, 
ninety feet high, and supported by oak-trees as columns. The 
mountain, where it was to be erected, is wild and stern, and 
overlooks the scene of the battle. It was calculated that the 
statue would be clearly visible at a distance of sixty miles. 
The temple is nearly finished, and the statue itself has been 
cast at the copper-works at Lemgo. But there, through want 
of funds to set it up, it has lain for some years, in disjointed 
fragments, exposed to the mutilating homage of relic-seeking 
travelers. The idea of honoring a hero who belongs to all 
Germany is not one which the present rulers of that divided 
country have any wish to encourage ; and the statue may long 
continue to lie there, and present too true a type of the con- 
dition of Germany herself. 

Surely this is an occasion in which Englishmen might well 
prove, by acts as well as words, that we also rank Arminius 
among our heroes. 

I have quoted the noble stanzas of one of our modern Eng- 
lish poets on Arminius, and I will conclude this memoir with 
one of the odes of the great poet of modern Germany, Klop- 
stock, on the victory to which we owe our freedom, and 



9 A.D.] ARMINIUS 145 

Arminius mainly owes his fame. Klopstock calls it the 
"Battle of Winfield." The epithet of "Sister of Cann« " 
shows that Klopstock followed some chronologers, according 
to whom Varus was defeated on the anniversary of the day on 
which Paulus and Varro were defeated by Hannibal. 

" Sister of Cannae ! ^ Winfield's® fight ! 
We saw thee with thy streaming bloody hair, 
With fiery eye, bright with the world's despair, 
Sweep by Walhalla's bards from out our sight. 

" Herrman outspake — * Now Victory or Death ! 
The Romans, . . . ' Victory ! ' 
And onward rushed their eagles with the cry. 

— So ended the first day. 

" ' Victory or Death ! ' began 
Then, first, the Roman chief; and Herrman spake 
Not, but home struck : the eagles fluttered — brake. 

— So sped the second day. 

TWO CHORUSES 

"And the third came. . . . The cry was < Flight or Death ! ' 
Flight left they not for them who'd make them slaves — 
Men who stab children ! — flight for them .' . . . no ! graves ! 

— 'Twas their last day. 

TWO BARDS 

" Yet spared they messengers : two came to Rome. 
How drooped the plume ! the lance was left to trail 
Down in the dust behind ; their cheek was pale : 
So came the messengers to Rome. 

" High in his hall the Imperator sate — 
Octaviantis CcBsar Atigiistiis .sate. 
They filled up wine-cups, wine-cups filled they up 
For him the highest, Jove of all their state. 

" The flutes of Lydia hushed before their voice. 
Before the messengers — the ' Highest' sprung — 
The god "^ against the marble pillars, wrung 
By the dread words, striking his brow, and thrice 
Cried he aloud in anguish, 'Varus! Varus! 
Give back my legions, Varus ! ' 

" And now the world-wide conquerors shrunk and feared 
For fatherland and home 

The lance to raise ; and 'mongst those false to Rome 
The death-lot rolled, and still they shrunk and feared ; 



146 DECISIVE BATTLES [9 a.d. 

' For she her face hath turned, 

The victor goddess,' cried these cowards (for aye 

Be it ! ) ' from Rome and Romans, and her day 

Is done! ' And still he mourned, 

And cried aloud in anguish, 'Varus! Varus! 

Give back my legions, Varus ! ' " 

Notes 

1 I cannot forbear quoting Macaulay's beautiful lines, where he describes 
how similar outrages in the early times of Rome goaded the plebeians to 
rise against the patricians : — 

" Heap heavier still the fetters ; bar closer still the grate ; 
Patient as sheep we yield us up unto your cruel hate. 
But by the shades beneath us, and by the gods above, 
Add not unto your cruel hate your still more cruel love! 

********** 
Then leave the poor plebeian his single tie to life — 
The sweet, sweet love of daughter, of sister, and of wife ; 
The gentle speech, the balm for all that his vext soul endures ; 
The kiss in which he half forgets even such a yoke as yours. 
Still let the maiden's beauty swell the father's breast with pride ; 
Still let the bridegroom's arms enfold an unpolluted bride. 
Spare us the inexpiable wrong, the unutterable shame. 
That turns the coward's heart to steel, the sluggard's blood to flame ; 
Lest when our latest hope is fled ye taste of our despair. 
And learn by proof, in some wild hour, how much the wretched dare." 

2 The circumstances of the early part of the battle which Arminius fought 
with Caecina six years afterwards evidently resembled those of his battle 
with Varus, and the result was very near being the same : I have therefore 
adopted part of the description which Tacitus gives of the last-mentioned 
engagement. 

^ It is clear that the Romans followed the policy of fomenting dissensions 
and wars of the Germans among themselves. 

^ In the Museum of Rhenish antiquities at Bonn there is a Roman sepul- 
chral monument, the inscription on which records that it was erected to 
the memory of M. Coelius, who fell '■'• Bella Variano.''^ 

5 The battle of Cannae, 216 B.C. — Hannibal's victory over the Romans. 

^ Winfield — the probable site of the '■^ Herr?nansschlacht.'''' 

■^ Augustus was worshiped as a deity in his lifetime. 

Synopsis of Events between the Victory of Arminius 
OVER Varus and the Battle of Chalons 

43 A.D. The Romans commence the conquest of Britain, 
Claudius being then emperor of Rome. The population of 
this island was then Celtic. In about forty years all the tribes 



9 A.D.] ARMINIUS 147 

south of the Clyde were subdued, and their land made a 
Roman province. 

58 to 60. Successful campaigns of the Roman general Cor- 
bula against the Parthians. 

64. First persecution of the Christians at Rome under Nero. 

68 to 70. Civil wars in the Roman world. The emperors 
Nero, Galba, Otho, and Vitellius cut off successively by vio- 
lent deaths. Vespasian becomes emperor. 

70. Jerusalem destroyed by the Romans under Titus. 

83. Futile attack of Domitian on the Germans. 

86. Beginning of the wars between the Romans and the 
Dacians. 

98 to 117. Trajan emperor of Rome. Under him the em- 
pire acquires its greatest territorial extent by his conquests 
in Dacia and in the East. His successor, Hadrian, abandons 
the provinces beyond the Euphrates, which Trajan had con- 
quered. 

138 to 180. Era of the Antonines. 

167 to 176. A long and desperate war between Rome and 
a great confederacy of the German nations. Marcus Anto- 
ninus at last succeeds in repelling them. 

192 to 197. Civil wars throughout the Roman world. Sev- 
erus becomes emperor. He relaxes the discipline of the 
soldiers. After his death in 211, the series of military insur- 
rections, civil wars, and murders of emperors recommences. 

226. Artaxerxes (Ardisheer) overthrows the Parthian and 
restores the Persian kingdom in Asia. He attacks the Roman 
possessions in the East 

2 50. The Goths invade the Roman provinces. The emperor 
Decius is defeated and slain by them. 

253 to 260. The Franks and Alemanni invade Gaul, Spain, 
and Africa. The Goths attack Asia Minor and Greece. 
The Persians conquer Armenia. Their king. Sapor, defeats 
the Roman emperor Valerian, and takes him prisoner. Gen- 
eral distress of the Roman empire. 

268 to 283. The emperors Claudius, Aurelian, Tacitus, 
Probus, and Carus defeat the various enemies of Rome, and 
restore order in the Roman state. 

285. Diocletian divides and reorganizes the Roman empire. 
After his abdication in 305 a fresh series of civil wars and 



148 DECISIVE BATTLES [9 a.d. 

confusion ensues. Constantine, the first Christian emperor, 
reunites the empire in 324. 

330. Constantine makes Constantinople the seat of empire 
instead of Rome. 

363. The emperor Julian is killed in action against the 
Persians. 

364 to 375. The empire is again divided, Valentinian being 
emperor of the West, and Valens of the East. Valentinian 
repulses the Alemanni, and other German invaders from Gaul. 
Splendor of the Gothic kingdom under Hermanric, north of 
the Danube. 

375 to 395. The Huns attack the Goths, who implore the 
protection of the Roman emperor of the East. The Goths 
are allowed to pass the Danube, and to settle in the Roman 
provinces. A war soon breaks out between them and the 
Romans, and the emperor Valens and his army are destroyed 
by them. They ravage the Roman territories. The emperor 
Theodosius reduces them to submission. They retain settle- 
ments in Thrace and Asia Minor. 

395. Final division of the Roman empire between Arcadius 
and Honorius, the two sons of Theodosius. The Goths re- 
volt, and under Alaric attack various parts of both the Roman 
empires. 

410. Alaric takes the city of Rome. 

412. The Goths march into Gaul, and in 414 into Spain, 
which had been already invaded by hosts of Vandals, Suevi, 
Alani, and other Germanic nations. Britain is formally aban- 
doned by the Roman emperor of the West. 

428. Genseric, king of the Vandals, conquers the Roman 
province of North Africa. 

441. The Huns attack the Eastern empire. 



451] BATTLE OF CHALONS 149 



CHAPTER VI 

The Battle of Chalons, 451 

" The discomfiture of the mighty attempt of Attila to found a new anti- 
Christian dynasty upon the wreck of the temporal power of Rome, at the 
end of the term of twelve hundred years, to which its duration had been 
limited by the forebodings of the heathen." — Herbert. 

ABROAD expanse of plains, the Campi Catalaunici of 
the ancients, spreads far and wide around the city of 
Chalons, in the northeast of France. The long rows 
of poplars through which the river Marne winds its way, 
and a few thinly scattered villages, are almost the only 
objects that vary the monotonous aspect of the greater part 
of this region. But about five miles from Chalons, near the 
little hamlets of Chape and Cuperly, the ground is indented 
and heaped up in ranges of grassy mounds and trenches, 
which attest the work of man's hand in ages past ; and which, 
to the practised eye, demonstrate that this quiet spot has once 
been the fortified position of a huge military post. 

Local tradition gives to these ancient earthworks the name 
of Attila's Camp. Nor is there any reason to question the 
correctness of the title, or to doubt that behind these very 
ramparts it was that, 1400 years ago, the most powerful 
heathen king that ever ruled in Europe mustered the rem- 
nants of his vast army, which had striven on these plains 
against the Christian soldiery of Toulouse and Rome. Here 
it was that Attila prepared to resist to the death his victors 
in the field ; and here he heaped up the treasures of his 
camp in one vast pile, which was to be his funeral pyre 
should his camp be stormed. It was here that the Gothic 
and Italian forces watched, but dared not assail, their enemy 
in his despair, after that great and terrible day of battle, 
described by Herbert, when 



150 DECISIVE BATTLES [451 

" The sound 
Of conflict was o'erpast, the shout of all 
Whom earth could send from her remotest bounds, 
Heathen or faithful ; — from thy hundred mouths, 
That feed the Caspian with Riphean snows, 
Huge Volga! from famed Hypanis, which once 
Cradled the Hun ; from all the countless realms 
Between Imaus and that utmost strand 
Where columns of Herculean rock confront 
The blown Atlantic ; Roman, Goth, and Hun, 
And Scythian strength of chivalry, that tread 
The cold Codanian shore, or what far lands 
Inhospitable drink Cimmerian floods, 
Franks, Saxons, Suevic, and Sarmatian chiefs, 
And who from green Armorica or Spain 
Flocked to the work of death." 

The victory which the Roman general Aetius, with his 
Gothic alHes, had then gained over the Huns was the last 
victory of Imperial Rome. But among the long Fasti of her 
triumphs, few can be found that, for their importance and 
ultimate benefit to mankind, are comparable with this expir- 
ing effort of her arms. It did not, indeed, open to her any 
new career of conquest ; it did not consolidate the relics of 
her power ; it did not turn the rapid ebb of her fortunes. 
The mission of Imperial Rome was, in truth, already accom- 
plished. She had received and transmitted through her once 
ample dominion the civilization of Greece. She had broken 
up the barriers of narrow nationalities among the various 
states and tribes that dwelt around the coast of the Mediter- 
ranean. She had fused these and many other races into one 
organized empire, bound together by a community of laws, 
of government, and institutions. Under the shelter of her 
full power the True Faith had arisen in the earth, and during 
the years of her decline it had been nourished to maturity, 
and had overspread all the provinces that ever obeyed her 
sway. For no beneficial purpose to mankind could the 
dominion of the seven-hilled city have been restored or pro- 
longed. But it was all-important to mankind what nations 
should divide among them Rome's rich inheritance of empire: 
whether the Germanic and Gothic warriors should form states 
and kingdoms out of the fragments of her dominions, and 
become the free members of the commonwealth of Christian 



Jj 



451] BATTLE OF CHALONS 15 1 

Europe ; or whether pagan savages from the wilds of Central 
Asia should crush the relics of classic civilization, and the 
early institutions of the Christianized Germans, in one hope- 
less chaos of barbaric conquest. The Christian Visigoths of 
King Theodoric fought and triumphed at Chalons side by- 
side with the legions of Aetius. Their joint victory over 
the Hunnish host not only rescued for a time from destruc- 
tion the old age of Rome, but preserved for centuries of 
power and glory the Germanic element in the civilization of 
modern Europe. 

In order to estimate the full importance to mankind of the 
battle of Chalons, we must keep steadily in mind who and 
what the Germans were, and the important distinctions be- 
tween them and the numerous other races that assailed the 
Roman empire ; and it is to be understood that the Gothic 
and the Scandinavian nations are included in the German 
race. Now, " in two remarkable traits the Germans differed 
from the Sarmatic as well as from the Slavic nations, and, 
indeed, from all those other races to whom the Greeks and 
Romans gave the designation of barbarians. I allude to their 
personal freedom and regards for the rights of men ; secondly, 
to the respect paid by them to the female sex, and the chas- 
tity for which the latter were celebrated among the people of 
the north. These were the foundations of that probity of 
character, self-respect, and purity of manners which may be 
traced among the Germans and Goths even during pagan 
times, and which, when their sentiments were enlightened by 
Christianity, brought out those splendid traits of character 
which distinguished the age of chivalry and romance." What 
the intermixture of the German stock with the classic, at the 
fall of the Western empire, has done for mankind may be 
best felt by watching, with Arnold, over how large a portion 
of the earth the influence of the German element is now 
extended. 

" It affects, more or less, the whole west of Europe, from 
the head of the Gulf of Bothnia to the most southern promon- 
tory of Sicily, from the Oder and the Adriatic to the Hebrides 
and to Lisbon. It is true that the language spoken over a 
large portion of this space is not predominantly German; but 
even in France, and Italy, and Spain, the influence of the 



152 DECISIVE BATTLES [451 

Franks, Burgundians, Visigoths, Ostrogoths, and Lombards, 
while it has colored even the language, has in blood and insti- 
tutions left its mark legibly and indelibly. Germany, the 
Low Countries, Switzerland for the most part, Denmark, 
Norway, and Sweden, and our own islands are all in lan- 
guage, in blood, and in institutions German most decidedly. 
But all South America is peopled with Spaniards and Portu- 
guese; all North America, and all Australia, with English- 
men. I say nothing of the prospects and influence of the 
German race in Africa and in India : it is enough to say that 
half of Europe, and all America and Australia, are German, 
more or less completely, in race, in language, or in institu- 
tions, or in all." [Arnold.] 

By the middle of the fifth century, Germanic nations had 
settled themselves in many of the fairest regions of the 
Roman empire, had imposed their yoke on the provincials, 
and had undergone, to a considerable extent, that moral con- 
quest which the arts and refinements of the vanquished in 
arms have so often achieved over the rough victor. The 
Visigoths held the north of Spain and Gaul south of the 
Loire. Franks, Aleraanni, Alans, and Burgundians had estab- 
lished themselves in other Gallic provinces, and the Suevi 
were masters of a large southern portion of the Spanish 
peninsula. A king of the Vandals reigned in North Africa, 
and the Ostrogoths had firmly planted themselves in the 
provinces north of Italy. Of these powers and principalities, 
that of the Visigoths, under their king Theodoric, son of 
Alaric, was by far the first in power and in civilization. 

The pressure of the Huns upon Europe had first been felt 
in the fourth century of our era. They had long been formi- 
dable to the Chinese empire ; but the ascendency in arms 
which another nomadic tribe of Central Asia, the Sienpi, 
gained over them, drove the Huns from their Chinese con- 
quests westward ; and this movement once being communi- 
cated to the whole chain of barbaric nations that dwelt 
northward of the Black Sea and the Roman empire, tribe 
after tribe of savage warriors broke in upon the barriers of 
civilized Europe, "velutunda supervenit undam." The Huns 
crossed the Tanais into Europe in 375, and rapidly reduced 
to subjection the Alans, the Ostrogoths, and other tribes that 



451] BATTLE OF CHALONS 153 

were then dwelling along the course of the Danube. The 
armies of the Roman emperor that tried to check their prog- 
ress were cut to pieces by them ; and Pannonia and other 
provinces south of the Danube were speedily occupied by the 
victorious cavalry of these new invaders. Not merely the 
degenerate Romans, but the bold and hardy warriors of Ger- 
many and Scandinavia were appalled at the numbers, the 
ferocity, the ghastly appearance, and the lightning-like rapid- 
ity of the Huns. Strange and loathsome legends were coined 
and credited which attributed their origin to the union of 

" Secret, black, and midnight hags " 

with the evil spirits of the wilderness. 

Tribe after tribe, and city after city, fell before them. Then 
came a pause in their career of conquest in Southwestern Eu- 
rope, caused probably by dissensions among their chiefs, and 
also by their arms being employed in attacks upon the Scandi- 
navian nations. But when Attila (or Atzel, as he is called in 
the Hungarian language) became their ruler, the torrent of 
their arms was directed with augmented terrors upon the west 
and the south; and their myriads marched beneath the guid- 
ance of one master-mind to the overthrow both of the new 
and the old powers of the earth. 

Recent events have thrown such a strong interest over 
everything connected with the Hungarian name that even the 
terrible name of Attila now impresses us the more vividly 
through our sympathizing admiration of the exploits of those 
who claim to be descended from his warriors, and " ambi- 
tiously insert the name of Attila among their native kings." 
The authenticity of this martial genealogy is denied by some 
writers, and questioned by more. But it is at least certain 
that the Magyars of Arpad, who are the immediate ancestors 
of the bulk of the modern Hungarians, and who conquered 
the country which bears the name of Hungary in 889 a.d., 
were of the same stock of mankind as were the Huns of 
Attila, even if they did not belong to the same subdivision of 
that stock. Nor is there any improbability in the tradition 
that after Attila's death many of his warriors remained in 
Hungary, and that their descendants afterwards joined the 
Huns of Arpad in their career of conquest. It is certain that 



154 DECISIVE BATTLES [451 

Attila made Hungary the seat of his empire. It seems also 
susceptible of clear proof that the territory was then called 
Hungvar, and Attila's soldiers Hungvari. Both the Huns of 
Attila and those of Arpad came from the family of nomadic 
nations whose primitive regions were those vast wildernesses 
of High Asia which are included between the Altaic and the 
Himalayan mountain chains. The inroads of these tribes 
upon the lower regions of Asia and into Europe have caused 
many of the most remarkable revolutions in the history of 
the world. There is every reason to believe that swarms of 
these nations made their way into distant parts of the earth, 
at periods long before the date of the Scythian invasion of 
Asia, which is the earliest inroad of the nomadic race that 
history records. The first, as far as we can conjecture in 
respect to the time of their descent, were the Finnish and 
Ugrian tribes, who appear to have come down from the Altaic 
border of High Asia towards the northwest, in which direction 
they advanced to the Uralian mountains. There they estab- 
lished themselves ; and that mountain chain, with its valleys 
and pasture-lands, became to them a new country, whence 
they sent out colonies on every side. But the Ugrian colony 
which under Arpad occupied Hungary, and became the an- 
cestors of the bulk of the present Hungarian nation, did not 
quit their settlements on the Uralian mountains till a very late 
period — not until four centuries after the time when Attila 
led from the primary seats of the nomadic races in High Asia 
the host with which he advanced into the heart of France. 
That host was Turkish ; but closely allied in origin, language, 
and habits with the Finno-Ugrian settlers on the Ural. 

Attila's fame has not come down to us through the partial and 
suspicious medium of chroniclers and poets of his own race. 
It is not from Hunnish authorities that we learn the extent of 
his might : it is from his enemies, from the literature and the 
legends of the nations whom he afflicted with his arms, that 
we draw the unquestionable evidence of his greatness. Be- 
sides the express narratives of Byzantine, Latin, and Gothic 
writers, we have the strongest proof of the stern reality of 
Attila's conquests in the extent to which he and his Huns 
have been the themes of the earliest German and Scandina- 
vian lays. Wild as many of these legends are, they bear 



451] BATTLE OF CHALONS 155 

concurrent and certain testimony to the awe with which the 
memory of Attila was regarded by the bold warriors who 
composed and dehghted in them, Attila's exploits, and the 
wonders of his unearthly steed and magic sword, repeatedly 
occur in the sagas of Norway and Iceland ; and the cele- 
brated Nibelungenlied, the most ancient of Germanic poetry, 
is full of them. There Etsel, or Attila, is described as the 
wearer of twelve mighty crowns, and as promising to his bride 
the lands of thirty kings, whom his irresistible sword has sub- 
dued. He is, in fact, the hero of the latter part of this re- 
markable poem ; and it is at his capital city, Etselenburgh, 
which evidently corresponds to the modern Buda, that much 
of its action takes place. 

When we turn from the legendary to the historic Attila, we 
see clearly that he was not one of the vulgar herd of barbaric 
conquerors. Consummate military skill may be traced in his 
campaigns ; and he relied far less on the brute force of armies 
for the aggrandizement of his empire than on the unbounded 
influence over the affections of friends and the fears of foes 
which his genius enabled him to acquire. Austerely sober in 
his private life ; severely just on the judgment-seat ; conspicu- 
ous among a nation of warriors for hardihood, strength, and 
skill in every martial exercise ; grave and deliberate in coun- 
sel, but rapid and remorseless in execution — he gave safety 
and security to all who were under his dominion, while he 
waged a warfare of extermination against all who opposed or 
sought to escape from it. He watched the national passions, 
the prejudices, the creeds, and the superstitions of the varied 
nations over which he ruled and of those which he sought to 
reduce beneath his sway : all these feelings he had the skill 
to turn to his own account. His own warriors believed him 
to be the inspired favorite of their deities, and followed him 
with fanatic zeal. His enemies looked on him as the pre- 
appointed minister of Heaven's wrath against themselves ; 
and, though they believed not in his creed, their own made 
them tremble before him. 

In one of his early campaigns he appeared before his troops 
with an ancient iron sword in his grasp, which he told them 
was the god of war whom their ancestors had worshiped. It 
is certain that the nomadic tribes of Northern Asia, whom 



156 DECISIVE BATTLES [451 

Herodotus described under the name of Scythians, from the 
earliest times worshiped as their god a bare sword. That 
sword-god was supposed, in Attila's time, to have disappeared 
from earth; but the Hunnish king now claimed to have re- 
ceived it by special revelation. It was said that a herdsman, 
who was tracking in the desert a wounded heifer by the drops 
of blood, found the mysterious sword standing fixed in the 
ground, as if it had been darted down from heaven. The 
herdsman bore it to Attila, who thenceforth was believed by 
the Huns to wield the Spirit of Death in battle; and the 
seers prophesied that that sword was to destroy the world. A 
Roman [Priscus] who was on an embassy to the Hunnish 
camp recorded in his memoirs Attila's acquisition of this 
supernatural weapon, and the immense influence over the 
minds of the barbaric tribes which its possession gave him. 
In the title which he assumed, we shall see the skill with 
which he availed himself of the legends and creeds of 
other nations as well as of his own. He designated him- 
self " Attila, Descendant of the Great Nimrod. Nurtured 
in Engaddi. By the grace of God, King of the Huns, the 
Goths, the Danes, and the Medes. The Dread of the World." 

Herbert states that Attila is represented on an old medal- 
lion with a teraphim, or a head, on his breast ; and the same 
writer adds: "We know, from the ' Hamartigenea ' of Pru- 
dentius, that Nimrod, with a snaky-haired head, was the object 
of adoration to the heretical followers of Marcion ; and the 
same head was the palladium set up by Antiochus Epiphanes 
over the gates of Antioch, though it has been called the vis- 
age of Charon. The memory of Nimrod was certainly re- 
garded with mystic veneration by many ; and by asserting 
himself to be the heir of that mighty hunter before the 
Lord, he vindicated to himself at least the whole Babylo- 
nian kingdom. 

" The singular assertion in his style, that he was nurtured in 
Engaddi, where he certainly had never been, will be more 
easily understood on reference to the twelfth chapter of the 
Book of Revelation, concerning the woman clothed with the 
sun, who was to bring forth in the wilderness — ' where she 
hath a place prepared of God ' — a man child, who was to 
contend with the dragon having seven heads and ten horns, 



451] BATTLE OF CHALONS 157 

and rule all nations with a rod of iron. This prophecy was 
at that time understood universally by the sincere Chris- 
tians to refer to the birth of Constantine, who was to over- 
whelm the paganism of the city on the seven hills, and it is 
still so explained ; but it is evident that the heathens must 
have looked on it in a different light, and have regarded it 
as a foretelling of the birth of that Great One who should 
master the temporal power of Rome. The assertion, there- 
fore, that he was nurtured in Engaddi is a claim to be looked 
upon as that man child who was to be brought forth in a place 
prepared of God in the wilderness. Engaddi means a place 
of palms and vines, in the desert ; it was hard by Zoar, the 
city of refuge, which was saved in the vale of Siddim, or 
Demons, when the rest was destroyed by fire and brimstone 
from the Lord in heaven, and might therefore be especially 
called a place prepared of God in the wilderness." 

It is obvious enough why he styled himself " By the grace 
of God, King of the Huns and Goths"; and it seems far 
from difficult to see why he added the names of the Medes 
and the Danes. His armies had been engaged in warfare 
against the Persian kingdom of the Sassanidae ; and it is cer- 
tain that he meditated the attack and overthrow of the Medo- 
Persian power. Probably some of the northern provinces of 
that kingdom had been compelled to pay him tribute ; and 
this would account for his styling himself king of the Medes, 
they being his remotest subjects to the south. From a simi- 
lar cause he may have called himself king of the Danes, as 
his power may well have extended northwards as far as the 
nearest of the Scandinavian nations ; and this mention of 
Medes and Danes as his subjects would serve at once to in- 
dicate the vast extent of his dominion.^ 

The extensive territory north of the Danube and Black Sea, 
and eastward of Caucasus, over which Attila ruled, first in 
conjunction with his brother Bleda, and afterwards alone, 
cannot be very accurately defined; but it must have com- 
prised within it, besides the Huns, many nations of Slavic, 
Gothic, Teutonic, and Finnish origin. South also of the 
Danube, the country from the river Sau as far as Novi in 
Thrace was a Hunnish province. Such was the empire of 
the Huns in 445 a.d. ; a memorable year, in which Attila 



IS8 DECISIVE BATTLES [451 

founded Buda on the Danube as his capital city ; and rid 
himself of his brother by a crime, which seems to have been 
prompted not only by selfish ambition, but also by a desire of 
turning to his purpose the legends and forebodings which then 
were universally spread throughout the Roman empire, and 
must have been well known to the watchful and ruthless Hun. 
The year 445 of our era completed the twelfth century from 
the foundation of Rome, according to the best chronologers. 
It had always been believed among the Romans that the 
twelve vultures which were said to have appeared to Romu- 
lus when he founded the city signified the time during which 
the Roman power should endure. The twelve vultures de- 
noted twelve centuries. This interpretation of the vision of 
the birds of destiny was current among learned Romans, even 
when there were yet many of the twelve centuries to run, 
and while the imperial city was at the zenith of its power. 
But as the allotted time drew nearer and nearer to its conclu- 
sion, and as Rome grew weaker and weaker beneath the 
blows of barbaric invaders, the terrible omen was more and 
more talked and thought of ; and in Attila's time men watched 
for the momentary extinction of the Roman state with the 
last beat of the last vulture's wing. Moreover, among the 
numerous legends connected with the foundation of the city, 
and the fratricidal death of Remus, there was one most terri- 
ble one, which told that Romulus did not put his brother to 
death in accident, or in hasty quarrel, but that 

" He slew his gallant twin 
With inexpiable sin," 

deliberately, and in compliance with the warnings of super- 
natural powers. The shedding of a brother's blood was be- 
lieved to have been the price at which the founder of Rome 
had purchased from destiny her twelve centuries of existence. 
We may imagine, therefore, with what terror in this, the 
twelve-hundredth year after the foundation of Rome, the in- 
habitants of the Roman empire must have heard the tidings 
that the royal brethren, Attila and Bleda, had founded a new 
capital on the Danube, which was designed to rule over the 
ancient capital on the Tiber ; and that Attila, like Romulus, 
had consecrated the foundation of his new city by murdering 



451] BATTLE OF CHALONS 159 

his brother ; so that, for the new cycle of centuries then about 
to commence, dominion had been bought from the gloomy- 
spirits of destiny in favor of the Hun by a sacrifice of equal 
awe and value with that which had formerly obtained it for 
the Romans. 

It is to be remembered that not only the pagans, but also 
the Christians of that age, knew and believed in these legends 
and omens, however they might differ as to the nature of 
the superhuman agency by which such mysteries had been 
made known to mankind. And we may observe, with Herbert, 
a modern learned dignitary of our church, how remarkably this 
augury was fulfilled. For " if to the twelve centuries denoted 
by the twelve vultures that appeared to Romulus we add, for 
the six birds that appeared to Remus, six lustra, or periods of 
five years each, by which the Romans were wont to number 
their time, it brings us precisely to the year 476, in which the 
Roman empire was finally extinguished by Odoacer." 

An attempt to assassinate Attila, made, or supposed to have 
been made, at the instigation of Theodosius the Younger, the 
emperor of Constantinople, drew the Hunnish armies, in 445, 
upon the Eastern empire, and delayed for a time the destined 
blow against Rome. Probably a more important cause of 
delay was the revolt of some of the Hunnish tribes to the 
north of the Black Sea against Attila, which broke out about 
this period, and is cursorily mentioned by the Byzantine 
writers. Attila quelled this revolt ; and having thus consoli- 
dated his power, and having punished the presumption of 
the Eastern Roman emperor by fearful ravages of his fairest 
provinces, Attila, 450 a.d., prepared to set his vast forces in 
motion for the conquest of Western Europe. He sought un- 
successfully by diplomatic intrigues to detach the king of 
the Visigoths from his alliance with Rome, and he resolved 
first to crush the power of Theodoric, and then to advance 
with overwhelming power to trample out the last sparks of 
the doomed Roman empire. 

A strong invitation from a Roman princess gave him a pre- 
text for the war, and threw an air of chivalric enterprise over 
his invasion. Honoria, sister of Valentinian HI., the em- 
peror of the West, had sent to Attila to offer him her hand, 
and her supposed right to share in the imperial power. This 



l6o DECISIVE BATTLES [451 

had been discovered by the Romans, and Honoria had been 
forthwith closely imprisoned. Attila now pretended to take 
up arms in behalf of his self-promised bride, and proclaimed 
that he was about to march to Rome to redress Honoria's 
wrongs. Ambition and spite against her brother must have 
been the sole motives that led the lady to woo the royal 
Hun, for Attila's face and person had all the national ugli- 
ness of his race, and the description given of him by a Byzan- 
tine ambassador must have been well known in the imperial 
courts. Herbert has well versified the portrait drawn by 
Priscus of the great enemy of both Byzantium and Rome : — 

" Terrific was his semblance, in no mold 
Of beautiful proportion cast ; his limbs 
Nothing exalted, but with sinews braced 
Of chalybean temper, agile, lithe, 
And swifter than the roe ; his ample chest 
Was overbrowed by a gigantic head. 
With eyes keen, deeply sunk, and small, that gleamed 
Strangely in wrath, as though some spirit unclean 
Within that corporal tenement installed 
Looked from its windows, but with tempered fire 
Beamed mildly on the unresisting. Thin 
His beard and hoary ; his flat nostrils crowned 
A cicatrized, swart visage : but withal 
That questionable shape such glory wore 
That mortals quailed beneath him." 

Two chiefs of the Franks, who were then settled on the 
Lower Rhine, were at this period engaged in a feud with 
each other ; and while one of them appealed to the Romans 
for aid, the other invoked the assistance and protection of the 
Huns. Attila thus obtained an ally whose cooperation se- 
cured for him the passage of the Rhine ; and it was this cir- 
cumstance which caused him to take a northward route from 
Hungary for his attack upon Gaul. The muster of the Hun- 
nish hosts was swollen by warriors of every tribe that they 
had subjugated ; nor is there any reason to suspect the old 
chroniclers of wilful exaggeration in estimating Attila's army 
at seven hundred thousand strong. Having crossed the 
Rhine, probably a little below Coblentz, he defeated the king 
of the Burgundians, who endeavored to bar his progress. 
He then divided his vast forces into two armies, — one of 



451] BATTLE OF CHALONS l6l 

which marched northwest upon Tongres and Arras, and the 
other cities of that part of France ; while the main body, 
under Attila himself, marched up the Moselle, and destroyed 
Besangon, and other towns in the country of the Burgundians. 
One of the latest and best biographers of Attila well observes 
that, " having thus conquered the eastern part of France, 
Attila prepared for an invasion of the West Gothic terri- 
tories beyond the Loire. He marched upon Orleans, where 
he intended to force the passage of that river ; and only a 
little attention is requisite to enable us to perceive that he 
proceeded on a systematic plan. He had his right wing on 
the north, for the protection of his Frank allies ; his left wing 
on the south, for the purpose of preventing the Burgundians 
from rallying, and of menacing the passes of the Alps from 
Italy ; and he led his center towards the chief object of the 
campaign — the conquest of Orleans, and an easy passage 
into the West Gothic dominion. The whole plan is very like 
that of the allied powers in 1814, with this difference, that 
their left wing entered France through the defiles of the Jura, 
in the direction of Lyons, and that the military object of the 
campaign was the capture of Paris." 

It was not until the year 451 that the Huns commenced 
the siege of Orleans ; and during their campaign in Eastern 
Gaul the Roman general Aetius had strenuously exerted 
himself in collecting and organizing such an army as might, 
when united to the soldiery of the Visigoths, be fit to face the 
Huns in the field. He enlisted every subject of the Roman 
empire whom patriotism, courage, or compulsion could col- 
lect beneath the standards ; and round these troops, which 
assumed the once proud title of the legions of Rome, he 
arrayed the large forces of barbaric auxiliaries whom pay, 
persuasion, or the general hate and dread of the Huns 
brought to the camp of the last of the Roman generals. 
King Theodoric exerted himself with equal energy. Orleans 
resisted her besiegers bravely as in after-times. The passage 
of the Loire was skilfully defended against the Huns ; and 
Aetius and Theodoric, after much maneuvering and difficulty, 
effected a junction of their armies to the south of that im- 
portant river. 

On the advance of the allies upon Orleans, Attila instantly 



l62 DECISIVE BATTLES [451 

broke up the siege of that city, and retreated towards the 
Marne. He did not choose to risk a decisive battle with only 
the central corps of his army against the combined power of 
his enemies ; and he therefore fell back upon his base of 
operations ; calling in his wings from Arras and Besan^on, 
and concentrating the whole of the Hunnish forces on the 
vast plains of Chalons-sur-Marne. A glance at the map will 
show how scientifically this place was chosen by the Hunnish 
general, as the point for his scattered forces to converge 
upon ; and the nature of the ground was eminently favor- 
able for the operations of cavalry, the arm in which Attila's 
strength peculiarly lay. 

It was during the retreat from Orleans that a Christian 
hermit is reported to have approached the Hunnish king and 
said to him, " Thou art the Scourge of God for the chastise- 
ment of Christians." Attila instantly assumed this new title 
of terror, which thenceforth became the appellation by which 
he was most widely and most fearfully known. 

The confederate armies of Romans and Visigoths at last 
met their great adversary, face to face, on the ample battle- 
ground of the Chalons plains. Aetius commanded on the 
right of the allies ; King Theodoric on the left ; and Sangi- 
pan, king of the Alans, whose fidelity was suspected, was 
placed purposely in the center and in the very front of the 
battle. Attila commanded his center in person, at the head 
of his own countrymen, while the Ostrogoths, the Gepidae, 
and the other subject allies of the Huns were drawn up on 
the wings. Some maneuvering appears to have occurred 
before the engagement, in which Aetius had the advantage, 
inasmuch as he succeeded in occupying a sloping hill which 
commanded the left flank of the Huns. Attila saw the impor- 
tance of the position taken by Aetius on the high ground, 
and commenced the battle by a furious attack on this part of 
the Roman line, in which he seems to have detached some of 
his best troops from his center to aid his left. The Romans, 
having the advantage of the ground, repulsed the Huns, and 
while the allies gained this advantage on their right, their left, 
under King Theodoric, assailed the Ostrogoths, who formed 
the right of Attila's army. The gallant king was himself 
struck down by a javelin, as he rode onward at the head of 



451] BATTLE OF CHALONS 163 

his men, and his own cavalry charging over him trampled him 
to death in the confusion. But the Visigoths, infuriated, not 
dispirited, by their monarch's fall, routed the enemies opposed 
to them, and then wheeled upon the flank of the Hunnish 
center, which had been engaged in a sanguinary and indecisive 
contest with the Alans. 

In this peril Attila made his center fall back upon his camp ; 
and when the shelter of its entrenchments and wagons had 
once been gained, the Hunnish archers repulsed without 
difficulty the charges of the vengeful Gothic cavalry. Aetius 
had not pressed the advantage which he gained on his side 
of the field, and when night fell over the wild scene of havoc, 
Attila's left was still unbroken, but his right had been routed, 
and his center forced back upon his camp. 

Expecting an assault on the morrow, Attila stationed his 
best archers in front of the cars and wagons, which were 
drawn up as a fortification along his lines, and made every 
preparation for a desperate resistance. But the " Scourge of 
God " resolved that no man should boast of the honor of hav- 
ing either captured or slain him ; and he caused to be raised 
in the center of his encampment a huge pyramid of the 
wooden saddles of his cavalry : round it he heaped the spoils 
and the wealth that he had won ; on it he stationed his wives 
who had accompanied him in the campaign ; and on the sum- 
mit he placed himself, ready to perish in the flames, and balk 
the victorious foe of their choicest booty, should they succeed 
in storming his defenses. 

But when the morning broke, and revealed the extent of 
the carnage, with which the plains were heaped for miles, the 
successful allies saw also and respected the resolute attitude 
of their antagonist. Neither were any measures taken to 
blockade him in his camp, and so to extort by famine that 
submission which it was too plainly perilous to enforce with 
the sword. Attila was allowed to march back the remnants 
of his army without molestation, and even with the semblance 
of success. 

It is probable that the crafty Aetius was unwilling to be 
too victorious. He dreaded the glory which his allies, the 
Visigoths, had acquired ; and feared that Rome might find a 
second Alaric in Prince Thorismund, who had signalized him- 



1 64 DECISIVE BATTLES [451 

self in the battle, and had been chosen on the field to succeed 
his father Theodoric. He persuaded the young king to return 
at once to his capital, and thus relieved himself at the same 
time of the presence of a dangerous friend as well as of a 
formidable, though beaten, foe. 

Attila's attacks on the Western empire were soon renewed ; 
but never with such peril to the civilized world as had men- 
aced it before his defeat at Chalons. And on his death, two 
years after that battle, the vast empire which his genius had 
founded was soon dissevered by the successful revolts of the 
subject nations. The name of the Huns ceased for some 
centuries to inspire terror in Western Europe, and their 
ascendency passed away with the life of the great king by 
whom it had been so fearfully augmented.^ 

Notes 

^ In the " Nibelungenlied," the old poet who describes the reception of 
the heroine Chrimhild by Attila (Etsel) says that Attila's dominions were 
so vast that among his subject warriors there were Russian, Greek, Wal- 
lachian, Polish, and even Danish knights. 

2 If I seem to have given fewer of the details of the battle itself than its 
importance would warrant, my excuse must be that Gibbon has enriched 
our language with a description of it too long for quotation and too splen- 
did for rivalry. I have not, however, taken altogether the same view of it 
that he has. The notes to Mr. Herbert's poem of "Attila" bring together 
nearly all the authorities on the subject. 

Synopsis of Events between the Battle of Chalons, 
451, AND THE Battle of Tours, 732 

476. The Roman empire of the West extinguished by 
Odoacer. 

481. Establishment of the French monarchy in Gaul by 
Clovis. 

455 to 582. The Saxons, Angles, and Frisians conquer Brit- 
ain, except the northern parts, and the districts along the 
west coast. The German conquerors found eight independ- 
ent kingdoms. 

533 to 568. The generals of Justinian, the emperor of 
Constantinople, conquer Italy and North Africa ; and these 
countries are for a short time annexed to the Roman empire 
of the East. 



4SI] BATTLE OF CHALONS 165 

568 to 570. The Lombards conquer great part of Italy. 

570 to 627. The wars between the emperors of Constanti- 
nople and the kings of Persia are actively continued. 

622. The Mahometan era of the Hegira. Mahomet is 
driven from Mecca, and is received as prince of Medina. 

629 to 632. Mahomet conquers Arabia. 

632 to 651. The Mahometan Arabs invade and conquer 
Persia. 

632 to 709. They attack the Roman empire of the East. 
They conquer Syria, Egypt, and Africa. 

709 to 713. They cross the straits of Gibraltar, and invade 
and conquer Spain. 

" At the death of Mohammed, in 632, his temporal and 
religious sovereignty embraced and was limited by the Ara- 
bian peninsula. The Roman and Persian empires, engaged 
in tedious and indecisive hostility upon the rivers of Meso- 
potamia and the Armenian mountains, were viewed by the 
ambitious fanatics of his creed as their quarry. In the very 
first year of Mohammed's immediate successor, Abubeker, 
each of these mighty empires was invaded. The crumbling 
fabric of Eastern despotism is never secured against rapid 
and total subversion ; a few victories, a few sieges, carried 
the Arabian arms from the Tigris to the Oxus, and overthrew, 
with the Sassanian dynasty, the ancient and famous religion 
they had professed. Seven years of active and unceasing 
warfare sufficed to subjugate the rich province of Syria, 
though defended by numerous armies and fortified cities; and 
the Khalif Omar had scarcely returned thanks for the accom- 
plishment of this conquest, when Amrou, his lieutenant, an- 
nounced to him the entire reduction of Egypt. After some 
interval, the Saracens won their way along the coast of Africa, 
as far as the Pillars of Hercules, and a third province was 
irretrievably torn from the Greek empire. These Western 
conquests introduced them to fresh enemies, and ushered in 
more splendid successes. Encouraged by the disunion of the 
Visigoths, and invited by treachery, Musa, the general of a 
master who sat beyond the opposite extremity of the Medi- 
terranean Sea, passed over into Spain, and within about two 
years the name of Mohammed was invoked under the Pyre- 
nees." [Hallam.] 



l66 DECISIVE BATTLES [732 



CHAPTER VII 

The Battle of Tours, 732 

" The events that rescued our ancestors of Britain, and our neighbors of 
Gaul, from the civil and religious yoke of the Koran." — Gibbon. 

THE broad tract of champaign country which intervenes 
between the cities of Poitiers and Tours is principally 
composed of a succession of rich pasture-lands, which 
are traversed and fertilized by the Cher, the Creuse, the 
Vienne, the Claine, the Indre, and other tributaries of the 
river Loire. Here and there the ground swells into pictur- 
esque eminences ; and occasionally a belt of forest land, a 
brown heath, or a clustering series of vineyards, breaks the 
monotony of the wide-spread meadows ; but the general char- 
acter of the land is that of a grassy plain, and it seems naturally 
adapted for the evolutions of numerous armies, especially of 
those vast bodies of cavalry which principally decided the 
fate of nations during the centuries that followed the down- 
fall of Rome and preceded the consolidation of the modern 
European powers. 

This region has been signalized by more than one memora- 
ble conflict; but it is principally interesting to the historian 
by having been the scene of the great victory won by Charles 
Martel over the Saracens, 732, which gave a decisive check 
to the career of the Arab conquest in Western Europe, 
rescued Christendom from Islam, preserved the relics of 
ancient and the germs of modern civilization, and reestab- 
lished the old superiority of the Indo-European over the 
Semitic family of mankind. 

Sismondi and Michelet have underrated the enduring inter- 
est of this great appeal of battle between the champions of 
the Crescent and the Cross. But, if French writers have 
slighted the exploits of their national hero, the Saracenic 



CHARLES M ARTEL. 

Photogravure from a painting by Tugnetti. 



732] BATTLE OF TOURS 167 

trophies of Charles Martel have had full justice done to them 
by English and German historians. Gibbon devotes several 
pages of his great work to the narrative of the battle of 
Tours, and to the consideration of the consequences which 
probably would have resulted if Abderrahman's enterprise had 
not been crushed by the Frankish chief. Schlegel speaks of 
this " mighty victory " in terms of fervent gratitude, and tells 
how "the arms of Charles Martel saved and delivered the 
Christian nations of the West from the deadly grasp of all- 
destroying Islam"; and Ranke points out, as "one of the 
most important epochs in the history of the world, the com- 
mencement of the eighth century, when, on the one side, 
Mahommedanism threatened to overspread Italy and Gaul, 
and, on the other, the ancient idolatry of Saxony and Fries- 
land once more forced its way across the Rhine. In this 
peril of Christian institutions, a youthful prince of Germanic 
race, Karl Martell, arose as their champion; maintained them 
with all the energy which the necessity for self-defense calls 
forth, and finally extended them into new regions." 

Arnold ranks the victory of Charles Martel even higher 
than the victory of Arminius, " among those signal deliver- 
ances which have affected for centuries the happiness of man- 
kind." In fact, the more we test its importance, the higher 
we shall be led to estimate it; and, though the authentic 
details which we possess of its circumstances and its heroes 
are but meager, we can trace enough of its general character 
to make us watch with deep interest this encounter between 
the rival conquerors of the decaying Roman empire. That 
old classic world, the history of which occupies so large a 
portion of our early studies, lay, in the eighth century of our 
era, utterly exanimate and overthrown. On the north the 
German, on the south the Arab, was rending away its prov- 
inces. At last the spoilers encountered one another, each 
striving for the full mastery of the prey. Their conflict 
brought back upon the memory of Gibbon the old Homeric 
simile, where the strife of Hector and Patroclus over the dead 
body of Cebriones is compared to the combat of two lions 
that, in their hate and hunger, fight together on the mountain 
tops over the carcass of a slaughtered stag ; and the reluc- 
tant yielding of the Saracen power to the superior might of 



1 68 DECISIVE BATTLES [732 

the Northern warriors might not inaptly recall those other 
lines of the same book of the Iliad where the downfall of 
Patroclus beneath Hector is likened to the forced yielding 
of the panting and exhausted wild boar that had long and 
furiously fought with a superior beast of prey for the posses- 
sion of the fountain among the rocks, at which each burned 
to drink. 

Although three centuries had passed away since the Ger- 
manic conquerors of Rome had crossed the Rhine, never to 
repass that frontier stream, no settled system of institutions 
or government, no amalgamation of the various races into one 
people, no uniformity of language or habits, had been estab- 
lished in the country at the time when Charles Martel was 
called on to repel the menacing tide of Saracenic invasion 
from the south. Gaul was not yet France. In that, as in 
other provinces of the Roman empire of the West, the do- 
minion of the Caesars had been shattered as early as the 
fifth century, and barbaric kingdoms and principalities had 
promptly arisen on the ruins of the Roman power. But few 
of these had any permanency ; and none of them consolidated 
the rest, or any considerable number of the rest, into one 
coherent and organized civil and political society. The great 
bulk of the population still consisted of the conquered pro- 
vincials; that is to say, of Romanized Celts, of a Gallic race 
which had long been under the dominion of the Caesars, and 
had acquired, together with no slight infusion of Roman 
blood, the language, the literature, the laws, and the civiliza- 
tion of Latium. Among these, and dominant over them, 
roved or dwelt the German victors : some retaining nearly 
all the rude independence of their primitive national charac- 
ter ; others softened and disciplined by the aspect and con- 
tact of the manners and institutions of civilized life. For it 
is to be borne in mind that the Roman empire in the West 
was not crushed by any sudden avalanche of barbaric inva- 
sion. The German conquerors came across the Rhine not in 
enormous hosts, but in bands of a few thousand warriors at 
a time. The conquest of a province was the result of an infi- 
nite series of partial local invasions, carried on by little armies 
of this description. The victorious warriors either retired 
with their booty or fixed themselves in the invaded district. 



732] BATTLE OF TOURS 169 

taking care to keep sufficiently concentrated for military pur- 
poses, and ever ready for some fresh foray, either against a 
rival Teutonic band, or some hitherto unassailed city of the 
provincials. Gradually, however, the conquerors acquired a 
desire for permanent landed possessions. They lost some- 
what of the restless thirst for novelty and adventure which 
had first made them throng beneath the banner of the boldest 
captains of their tribe, and leave their native forests for a 
roving military life on the left bank of the Rhine. They 
were converted to the Christian faith ; and gave up with 
their old creed much of the coarse ferocity which must have 
been fostered in the spirits of the ancient warriors of the 
North by a mythology which promised, as the reward of the 
brave on earth, an eternal cycle of fighting and drunkenness 
in heaven. 

But although their conversion and other civilizing influ- 
ences operated powerfully upon the Germans in Gaul, and 
although the Franks (who were originally a confederation of 
the Teutonic tribes that dwelt between the Rhine, the Maine, 
and the Weser) established a decided superiority over the 
other conquerors of the province as well as over the con- 
quered provincials, the country long remained a chaos of 
uncombined and shifting elements. The early princes of the 
Merovingian dynasty were generally occupied in wars against 
other princes of their house, occasioned by the frequent sub- 
divisions of the Frank monarchy ; and the ablest and best of 
them had found all their energies tasked to the utmost to 
defend the barrier of the Rhine against the pagan Germans, 
who strove to pass that river and gather their share of the 
spoils of the empire. 

The conquests which the Saracens effected over the south- 
ern and eastern provinces of Rome were far more rapid than 
those achieved by the Germans in the north ; and the new 
organizations of society which the Moslems introduced were 
summarily and uniformly enforced. Exactly a century passed 
between the death of Mahomet and the date of the battle of 
Tours. During that century the followers of the Prophet 
had torn away half the Roman empire ; and, besides their 
conquests over Persia, the Saracens had overrun Syria, Egypt, 
Africa, and Spain in an uncheckered and apparently irresisti- 



I/O DECISIVE BATTLES [732 

ble career of victory. Nor, at the commencement of the 
eighth century of our era, was the Mahometan world divided 
against itself, as it subsequently became. All these vast 
regions obeyed the caliph; throughout them all, from the 
Pyrenees to the Oxus, the name of Mahomet was invoked in 
prayer, and the Koran revered as the book of the law. 

It was under one of their ablest and most renowned com- 
manders, with a veteran army, and with every apparent 
advantage of time, place, and circumstance, that the Arabs 
made their great effort at the conquest of Europe north of 
the Pyrenees. The victorious Moslem soldiery in Spain, 

" A countless multitude ; 
Syrian, Moor, Saracen, Greek renegade, 
Persian, and Copt, and Tartar, in one bond 
Of erring faith conjoined — strong in the youth 
And heat of zeal — a dreadful brotherhood," 

were eager for the plunder of more Christian cities and 
shrines, and full of fanatic confidence in the invincibility of 
their arms. 

" Nor were the chiefs 
Of victory less assured, by long success 
Elate, and proud of that o'erwhelming strength 
Which surely, they believed, as it had rolled 
Thus far unchecked, would roll victorious on, 
Till, like the Orient, the subjected West 
Should bow in reverence at Mahommed's name ; 
And pilgrims from remotest Arctic shores 
Tread with religious feet the burning sands 
Of Araby and Mecca's stony soil." 

— Southey's Roderick. 

It is not only by the modern Christian poet, but by the old 
Arabian chroniclers also, that these feelings of ambition and 
arrogance are attributed to the Moslems, who had overthrown 
the Visigoth power in Spain. And their eager expectations 
of new wars were excited to the utmost on the reappoint- 
ment by the caliph of Abderrahman Ibn Abdillah Alghafeki 
to the government of that country, 729, which restored 
them a general who had signalized his skill and prowess dur- 
ing the conquests of Africa and Spain ; whose ready valor 
and generosity had made him the idol of the troops ; who 



732] BATTLE OF TOURS I/I 

had already been engaged in several expeditions into Gaul, 
so as to be well acquainted with the national character and 
tactics of the Franks ; and who was known to thirst, like a 
good Moslem, for revenge for the slaughter of some detach- 
ments of the true believers which had been cut off on the 
north of the Pyrenees. 

In addition to his cardinal military virtues, Abderrahman 
is described by the Arab writers as a model of integrity and 
justice. The first two years of his second administration in 
Spain were occupied in severe reforms of the abuses which 
under his predecessors had crept into the system of govern- 
ment, and in extensive preparations for his intended conquest 
of Gaul. Besides the troops which he collected from his prov- 
ince, he obtained from Africa a large body of chosen Berber 
cavalry, officered by Arabs of proved skill and valor ; and in 
the summer of 732 he crossed the Pyrenees at the head of 
an army which some Arab writers rate at eighty thousand 
strong, while some of the Christian chroniclers swell its num- 
bers to many hundreds of thousands more. Probably the Arab 
account diminishes, but of the two keeps nearer to the truth. 
It was from this formidable host, after Eudes, the count of 
Aquitaine, had vainly striven to check it, after many strong 
cities had fallen before it, and half the land been overrun, 
that Gaul and Christendom were at last rescued by the strong 
arm of Prince Charles, who acquired a surname,^ like that of 
the war-god of his forefathers' creed, from the might with 
which he broke and shattered his enemies in the battle. 

The Merovingian kings had sunk into absolute insignifi- 
cance, and had become mere puppets of royalty before the 
eighth century. Charles Martel, like his father, Pepin Heri- 
stal, was duke of the Austrasian Franks, the bravest and most 
thoroughly Germanic part of the nation ; and exercised, in 
the name of the titular king, what little paramount authority 
the turbulent minor rulers of districts and towns could be 
persuaded or compelled to acknowledge. Engaged with his 
national competitors in perpetual conflicts for power, engaged 
also in more serious struggles for safety against the fierce 
tribes of the unconverted Frisians, Bavarians, Saxons, and 
Thuringians, who at that epoch assailed with peculiar feroc- 
ity the Christianized Germans on the left bank of the Rhine, 



1/2 DECISIVE BATTLES [732 

Charles Martel added experienced skill to his natural cour- 
age, and he had also formed a militia of veterans among the 
Franks. Hallam has thrown out a doubt whether, in our 
admiration of his victory at Tours, we do not judge a little 
too much by the event, and whether there was not rashness 
in his risking the fate of France on the result of a general 
battle with the invaders. But when we remember that 
Charles had no standing army, and the independent spirit of 
the Frank warriors who followed his standard, it seems most 
probable that it was not in his power to adopt the cautious 
policy of watching the invaders and wearing out their 
strength by delay. So dreadful and so wide-spread were the 
ravages of the Saracenic light cavalry throughout Gaul that 
it must have been impossible to restrain for any length of 
time the indignant ardor of the Franks. And, even if 
Charles could have persuaded his men to look tamely on 
while the Arabs stormed more towns and desolated more dis- 
tricts, he could not have kept an army together when the 
usual period of a military expedition had expired. If, in- 
deed, the Arab account of the disorganization of the Moslem 
forces be correct, the battle was as well timed on the part of 
Charles as it was, beyond all question, well fought. 

The monkish chroniclers, from whom we are obliged to 
glean a narrative of this memorable campaign, bear full 
evidence to the terror which the Saracen invasion inspired, 
and to the agony of that great struggle. The Saracens, say 
they, and their king, who was called Abdirames, came out of 
Spain, with all their wives, and their children, and their sub- 
stance, in such great multitudes that no man could reckon or 
estimate them. They brought with them all their armor, and 
whatever they had, as if they were thenceforth always to 
dwell in France. 

" Then Abderrahman, seeing the land filled with the mul- 
titude of his army, pierces through the mountains, tramples 
over rough and level ground, plunders far into the country of 
the Franks, and smites all with the sword, insomuch that when 
Eudo came to battle with him at the river Garonne, and fled 
before him, God alone knows the number of the slain. Then 
Abderrahman pursued after Count Eudo, and while he strives 
to spoil and burn the holy shrine at Tours, he encounters the 



732] BATTLE OF TOURS 1 73 

chief of the Austrasian Franks, Charles, a man of war from 
his youth up, to whom Eudo had sent warning. There for 
nearly seven days they strive intensely, and at last they set 
themselves in battle array; and the nations of the North, 
standing firm as a wall, and impenetrable as a zone of ice, 
utterly slay the Arabs with the edge of the sword." 

The European writers all concur in speaking of the fall of 
Abderrahman as one of the principal causes of the defeat of 
the Arabs ; who, according to one writer, after finding that 
their leader was slain, dispersed in the night, to the agreeable 
surprise of the Christians, who expected the next morning to 
see them issue from their tents and renew the combat. One 
monkish chronicler puts the loss of the Arabs at 375,000 men, 
while he says that only 1007 Christians fell — a disparity of 
loss which he feels bound to account for by a special inter- 
position of Providence. I have translated above some of the 
most spirited passages of these writers ; but it is impossible 
to collect from them anything like a full or authentic descrip- 
tion of the great battle itself, or of the operations which 
preceded or followed it. 

Though, however, we may have cause to regret the meager- 
ness and doubtful character of these narratives, we have the 
great advantage of being able to compare the accounts given 
of Abderrahman's expedition by the national writers of each 
side. This is a benefit which the inquirer into antiquity so 
seldom can obtain, that the fact of possessing it, in the in- 
stance of the battle of Tours, makes us think the historical 
testimony respecting that great event more certain and satis- 
factory than is the case in many other instances, where we 
possess abundant details respecting military exploits, but 
where those details come to us from the annalist of one 
nation only ; and where we have, consequently, no safeguard 
against the exaggerations, the distortions, and the fictions 
which national vanity has so often put forth in the garb and 
under the title of history. The Arabian writers who recorded 
the conquests and wars of their countrymen in Spain have 
narrated also the expedition into Gaul of their great emir, and 
his defeat and death near Tours in battle with the host of the 
Franks under King Caldus, the name into which they meta- 
morphose Charles. 



174 DECISIVE BATTLES [732 

They tell us how there was war between the count of the 
Frankish frontier and the Moslems, and how the count gath- 
ered together all his people, and fought for a time with 
doubtful success. "But," say the Arabian chroniclers, "Ab- 
derrahman drove them back ; and the men of Abderrahman 
were puffed up in spirit by their repeated successes, and they 
were full of trust in the valor and the practise in war of their 
emir. So the Moslems smote their enemies, and passed the 
river Garonne, and laid waste the country, and took captives 
without number. And that army went through all places like 
a desolating storm. Prosperity made those warriors insatia- 
ble. At the passage of the river, Abderrahman overthrew 
the count, and the count retired into his stronghold, but the 
Moslems fought against it, and entered it by force, and slew 
the count ; for everything gave way to their simitars, which 
were the robbers of lives. All the nations of the Franks 
trembled at that terrible army, and they betook them to their 
king, Caldus, and told him of the havoc made by the Moslem 
horsemen, and how they rode at their will through all the land 
of Narbonne, Toulouse, and Bordeaux, and they told the king 
of the death of their count. Then the king bade them be of 
good cheer, and offered to aid them. And in the 1 14th year^ 
he mounted his horse, and he took with him a host that could 
not be numbered, and went against the Moslems. And he 
came upon them at the great city of Tours. And Abderrah- 
man and other prudent cavaliers saw the disorder of the Mos- 
lem troops, who were loaded with spoil ; but they did not 
venture to displease the soldiers by ordering them to abandon 
everything except their arms and war-horses. And Abder- 
rahman trusted in the valor of his soldiers and in the good 
fortune which had ever attended him. But," the Arab writer 
remarks, " such defect of discipline always is fatal to armies. 
So Abderrahman and his host attacked Tours to gain still 
more spoil, and they fought against it so fiercely that they 
stormed the city almost before the eyes of the army that 
came to save it ; and the fury and the cruelty of the Moslems 
towards the inhabitants of the city were like the fury and 
cruelty of raging tigers. It was manifest," adds the Arab, 
" that God's chastisement was sure to follow such excesses ; 
and Fortune thereupon turned her back upon the Moslems. 



\ 

732] BATTLE OF TOURS 175 

" Near the river Owar ^ the two great hosts of the two lan- 
guages and the two creeds were set in array against each 
other. The hearts of Abderrahman, his captains, and his 
men were filled with wrath and pride, and they were the first 
to begin the fight. The Moslem horsemen dashed fierce and 
frequent forward against the battalions of the Franks, who 
resisted manfully, and many fell dead on either side, until the 
going down of the sun. Night parted the two armies ; but 
in the gray of the morning the Moslems returned to the bat- 
tle. Their cavaliers had soon hewn their way into the center 
of the Christian host. But many of the Moslems were fear- 
ful for the safety of the spoil which they had stored in their 
tents, and a false cry arose in their ranks that some of the 
enemy were plundering the camp ; whereupon several squad- 
rons of the Moslem horsemen rode off to protect their tents. 
But it seemed as if they fled ; and all the host was troubled. 
And while Abderrahman strove to check their tumult, and to 
lead them back to battle, the warriors of the Franks came 
around him, and he was pierced through with many spears, 
so that he died. Then all the host fled before the enemy, 
and many died in the flight. This deadly defeat of the Mos- 
lems, and the loss of the great leader and good cavalier Ab- 
derrahman, took place in the hundred and fifteenth year." 

It would be difficult to expect from an adversary a more 
explicit confession of having been thoroughly vanquished 
than the Arabs here accord to the Europeans. The points 
on which their narrative differs from those of the Christians 
— as to how many days the conflict lasted, whether the as- 
sailed city was actually rescued or not, and the like — are of 
little moment compared with the admitted great fact that 
there was a decisive trial of strength between Frank and 
Saracen, in which the former conquered. The enduring im- 
portance of the battle of Tours in the eyes of the Moslems is 
attested not only by the expressions of " the deadly battle " 
and "the disgraceful overthrow," which their writers con- 
stantly employ when referring to it, but also by the fact that 
no further serious attempts at conquest beyond the Pyrenees 
were made by the Saracens. Charles Martel, and his son and 
grandson, were left at leisure to consolidate and extend their 
power. The new Christian Roman empire of the West, 



176 DECISIVE BATTLES [732 

which the genius of Charlemagne founded, and throughout 
which his iron will imposed peace on the old anarchy of 
creeds and races, did not indeed retain its integrity after its 
great ruler's death. Fresh troubles came over Europe ; but 
Christendom, though disunited, was safe. The progress of 
civilization and the development of the nationalities and gov- 
ernments of modern Europe, from that time forth, went for- 
ward in not uninterrupted, but ultimately certain, career. 

Notes 

1 Martel — " The Hammer." See the Scandinavian sagas for an account 
of the favorite weapon of Thor. 
^ Of the Hegira. 
^ Probably the Loire. 

Synopsis of Events between the Battle of Tours, 
732, and the Battle of Hastings, 1066 

768 to 814. Reign of Charlemagne. This monarch has 
justly been termed the principal regenerator of Western 
Europe after the destruction of the Roman empire. The 
early death of his brother, Carloman, left him sole master of 
the dominions of the Franks, which, by a succession of victo- 
rious wars, he enlarged into the new empire of the West. 
He conquered the Lombards, and reestablished the pope at 
Rome, who, in return, acknowledged Charles as suzerain of 
Italy. And in the year 800 Leo IH., in the name of the 
Roman people, solemnly crowned Charlemagne, at Rome, as 
emperor of the Roman empire of the West. In Spain, Charle- 
magne ruled the country between the Pyrenees and the 
Ebro; but his most important conquests were effected on the 
eastern side of his original kingdom, over the Sclavonians of 
Bohemia, the Avars of Pannonia, and over the previously 
uncivilized German tribes who had remained in their father- 
land. The old Saxons were his most obstinate antagonists, 
and his wars with them lasted for thirty years. Under him 
the greater part of Germany was compulsorily civilized, and 
converted from Paganism to Christianity. His empire ex- 
tended eastward as far as the Elbe, the Saal, the Bohemian 
mountains, and a line drawn from thence crossing the Dan- 
ube above Vienna, and prolonged to the Gulf of Istria. 



732] BATTLE OF TOURS 177 

Throughout this vast assemblage of provinces Charlemagne 
established an organized and firm government. But it is not 
as a mere conqueror that he demands admiration. " In a life 
restlessly active, we see him reforming the coinage and estab- 
lishing the legal divisions of money, gathering about him the 
learned of every country ; founding schools and collecting 
libraries ; interfering, with the air of a king, in religious con- 
troversies ; attempting, for the sake of commerce, the mag- 
nificent enterprise of uniting the Rhine and the Danube, and 
meditating to mold the discordant code of Roman and bar- 
barian laws into a uniform system." [Hallam.] 

814 to 888. Repeated partitions of the empire and civil 
wars between Charlemagne's descendants. Ultimately the 
kingdom of France is finally separated from Germany and 
Italy. In 962 Otho the Great of Germany revives the impe- 
rial dignity. 

827. Egbert, king of Wessex, acquires the supremacj' over 
the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. 

832. The first Danish squadron attacks part of the English 
coast. The Danes, or Northmen, had begun their ravages in 
France a few years earlier. For two centuries Scandinavia 
sends out fleet after fleet of sea-rovers, who desolate all the 
western kingdoms of Europe, and in many cases effect per- 
manent conquests. 

871 to 900. Reign of Alfred in England. After a long 
and varied struggle he rescues England from the Danish 
invaders. 

911. The French king cedes Neustria to Hrolf the North- 
man. Hrolf (or Duke Rollo, as he thenceforth was termed) 
and his army of Scandinavian warriors become the ruling 
class of the population of the province, which is called after 
them Normandy. 

1016. Four knights from Normandy, who had been on a 
pilgrimage to the Holy Land, while returning through Italy, 
head the people of Salerno in repelling an attack of a band 
of Saracen corsairs. In the next year many adventurers 
from Normandy settle in Italy, where they conquer Apulia 
(1040), and afterwards (1060) Sicily. 

1017. Canute, king of Denmark, becomes king of England. 
On the death of the last of his sons, in 104 1, the Saxon line 



1/8 DECISIVE BATTLES [732 

is restored, and Edward the Confessor (who had been bred in 
the court of the Duke of Normandy) is called by the English 
to the throne of this island, as the representative of the House 
of Cerdic. 

1035. Duke Robert of Normandy dies on his return from 
a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and his son William (after- 
wards the conqueror of England) succeeds to the dukedom 
o'f Normandy. 






WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 

Photogravure from a drawing by Guilleminot, 



m 



WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR. 

Photogravure from a drawing by Guilleminot. 



io66] BATTLE OF HASTINGS 179 



CHAPTER VIII 

The Battle of Hastings, 1066 

" Eis vos la Bataille assembl^e, 
Dune encore est grant renomde." 

— Roman de Ron, 1. 3183. 

ARLETTA'S pretty feet twinkling in the brook gained 
her a duke's love, and gave us William the Conqueror. 
Had she not thus fascinated Duke Robert the Liberal, 
of Normandy, Harold would not have fallen at Hastings, no 
Anglo-Norman dynasty could have arisen, no British empire. 
The reflection is Sir Francis Palgrave's ; and it is emphati- 
cally true. If any one should write a history of " Decisive 
loves that have materially influenced the drama of the world 
in all its subsequent scenes," the daughter of the tanner of 
Falaise would deserve a conspicuous place in his pages. But 
it is her son, the victor of Hastings, who is now the object of 
our attention ; and no one who appreciates the influence of 
England and her empire upon the destinies of the world will 
ever rank that victory as one of secondary importance. 

It is true that in the last century some writers of eminence 
on our history and laws mentioned the Norman Conquest in 
terms from which it might be supposed that the battle of 
Hastings led to little more than the substitution of one royal 
family for another on the throne of this country, and to the 
garbling and changing of some of our laws through the "cun- 
ning of the Norman lawyers." But, at least since the 
appearance of the work of Augustin Thierry on the Norman 
Conquest, these forensic fallacies have been exploded. Thierry 
made his readers keenly appreciate the magnitude of that po- 
litical and social catastrophe. He depicted in vivid colors the 
atrocious cruelties of the conquerors, and the sweeping and 
enduring innovations that they wrought, involving the over- 



l80 DECISIVE BATTLES [1066 

throw of the ancient constitution, as well as of the last of the 
Saxon kings. In his pages we see new tribunals and tenures 
superseding the old ones, new divisions of race and class in- 
troduced, whole districts devastated to gratify the vengeance 
or the caprice of the new tyrant, the greater part of the lands 
of the English confiscated, and divided among aliens, the very 
name of Englishmen turned into a reproach, the English lan- 
guage rejected as servile and barbarous, and all the high 
places in Church and State for upwards of a century filled 
exclusively by men of foreign race. 

No less true than eloquent is Thierry's summing up of the 
social effects of the Norman Conquest on the generation that 
witnessed it, and on many of their successors. He tells his 
reader that "if he would form a just idea of England con- 
quered by William of Normandy, he must figure to himself, 
not a mere change of political rule, not the triumph of one 
candidate over another candidate, of the man of one party 
over the man of another party ; but the intrusion of one people 
into the bosom of another people, the violent placing of one 
society over another society, which it came to destroy, and the 
scattered fragments of which it retained only as personal prop- 
erty, or (to use the words of an old act) as ' the clothing of 
the soil ' : he must not picture to himself, on the one hand, 
William, a king and a despot ; on the other, subjects of Will- 
iam's, high and low, rich and poor, all inhabiting England, 
and consequently all English ; but he must imagine two nations, 
of one of which William is a member and the chief — two 
nations which (if the term must be used) were both subject to 
William, but as applied to which the word has quite different 
senses, meaning in the one case subordinate, in the other sub- 
jugated. He must consider that there are two countries, two 
soils, included in the same geographical circumference — that 
of the Normans, rich and free ; that of the Saxons, poor and 
serving, vexed by r^«/and taillage ; the former full of spacious 
mansions and walled and moated castles, the latter scattered 
over with huts and straw and ruined hovels : that peopled 
with the happy and the idle, with men of the army and of the 
court, with knights and nobles ; this with men of pain and 
labor, with farmers and artisans : on the one side, luxury and 
insolence ; on the other, misery and envy — not the envy of 



io66] BATTLE OF HASTINGS l8l 

the poor at the sight of opulence they cannot reach, but the 
envy of the despoiled when in presence of the despoilers." 

Perhaps the effect of Thierry's work has been to cast into the 
shade the ultimate good effects on England of the Norman 
Conquest. Yet these are as undeniable as are the miseries 
which that conquest inflicted on our Saxon ancestors from the 
time of the battle of Hastings to the time of the signing of 
the Great Charter at Runnymede. The last is the true epoch 
of English nationality : it is the epoch when Anglo-Norman 
and Anglo-Saxon ceased to keep aloof from each other — the 
one in haughty scorn, the other in sullen abhorrence ; and 
when all the free men of the land, whether barons, knights, 
yeomen, or burghers, combined to lay the foundations of 
English freedom. 

Our Norman barons were the chiefs of that primary con- 
stitutional movement; those "iron barons" whom Chatham 
has so nobly eulogized. This alone should make England re- 
member her obligations to the Norman Conquest, which planted 
far and wide, as a dominant class in her land, a martial no- 
bility of the bravest and most energetic race that ever existed. 

It may sound paradoxical, but it is in reality no exaggera- 
tion to say, with Guizot, that England owes her liberties to 
her having been conquered by the Normans. It is true that 
the Saxon institutions were the primitive cradle of English 
liberty, but by their own intrinsic force they could never have 
founded the enduring free English constitution. It was the 
Conquest that infused into them a new virtue ; and the politi- 
cal liberties of England arose from the situation in which the 
Anglo-Saxon and the Anglo-Norman populations and laws 
found themselves placed relatively to each other in this island. 
The state of England under her last Anglo-Saxon kings closely 
resembled the state of France under the last Carlo vingian 
and the first Capetian princes. The crown was feeble, the 
great nobles were strong and turbulent. And although there 
was more national unity in Saxon England than in France ; 
although the English local free institutions had more reality 
and energy than was the case with anything analogous to 
them on the Continent in the eleventh century, still the proba- 
bility is that the Saxon system of polity, if left to itself, would 
have fallen into utter confusion, out of which would have 



l82 DECISIVE BATTLES [1066 

arisen first an aristocratic hierarchy like that which arose in 
France, next an absolute monarchy, and finally a series of 
anarchical revolutions, such as we now behold around but 
not among us. 

The latest conquerors of this island were also the bravest 
and the best. I do not except even the Romans. And, in spite 
of our sympathies with Harold and Here ward, and our abhor- 
rence of the founder of the New Forest, and the desolator of 
Yorkshire, we must confess the superiority of the Normans 
to the Anglo-Saxons and Anglo-Danes, whom they met here 
in 1066, as well as to the degenerate Frank noblesse and the 
crushed and servile Romanesque provincials from whom, in 
912, they had wrested the district in the north of Gaul which 
still bears the name of Normandy. 

It was not merely by extreme valor and ready subordina- 
tion or military discipline that the Normans were preeminent 
among all the conquering races of the Gothic stock, but also 
by their instinctive faculty of appreciating and adopting the 
superior civilizations which they encountered. This Duke 
Rollo and his Scandinavian warriors readily embraced the 
creed, the language, the laws, and the arts which France, in 
those troubled and evil times with which the Capetian dynasty 
commenced, still inherited from imperial Rome and imperial 
Charlemagne. " They adopted the customs, the duties, the 
obedience, that the capitularies of emperors and kings had 
established ; but that which they brought to the application 
of those laws was the spirit of life, the spirit of liberty — the 
habits also of military subordination, and the aptness for a 
state politic, which could reconcile the security of all with the 
independence of each." [Sismondi.] So, also, in all chival- 
ric feelings, in enthusiastic religious zeal, in almost idolatrous 
respect to females of gentle birth, in generous fondness for 
the nascent poetry of the time, in a keen intellectual relish 
for subtle thought and disputation, in a taste for architectural 
magnificence, and all courtly refinement and pageantry, the 
Normans were the Paladins of the world. Their brilliant 
qualities were sullied by many darker traits of pride, of mer- 
ciless cruelty, and of brutal contempt for the industry, the 
rights, and the feelings of all whom they considered the lower 
classes of mankind. 



io66] BATTLE OF HASTINGS 183 

Their gradual blending with the Saxons softened these 
harsh and evil points of their national character, and in re- 
turn they fired the duller Saxon mass with a new spirit of 
animation and power. As Campbell boldly expressed it, 
" They JiigJi-mcttled the blood of our veins.'' Small had been 
the figure which England made in the world before the com- 
ing over of the Normans ; and without them she never would 
have emerged from insignificance. The authority of Gibbon 
may be taken as decisive, when he pronounces that, "As- 
suredly England was a gainer by the Conquest." And we 
may proudly adopt the comment of the Frenchman Rapin, 
who, writing of the battle of Hastings more than a century 
ago, speaks of the revolution effected by it as " the first step 
by which England has arrived to that height of grandeur and 
glory we behold it in at present." 

The interest of this eventful struggle, by which William of 
Normandy became king of England, is materially enhanced 
by the high personal characters of the competitors for our 
crown. They were three in number. One was a foreign 
prince from the North ; one was a foreign prince from the 
South ; and one was a native hero of the land. Harald Har- 
drada, the strongest and most chivalric of the kings of Nor- 
way, was the first; Duke William of Normandy was the 
second ; and the Saxon Harold, the son of Earl Godwin, was 
the third. Never was a nobler prize sought by nobler cham- 
pions, or striven for more gallantly. The Saxon triumphed 
over the Norwegian, and the Norman triumphed over the 
Saxon; but Norse valor was never more conspicuous than 
when Harald Hardrada and his host fought and fell at Stam- 
ford Bridge ; nor did Saxons ever face their foes more bravely 
than our Harold and his men on the fatal day of Hastings. 

During the reign of King Edward the Confessor over this 
land, the claims of the Norwegian king to our crown were lit- 
tle thought of ; and though Hardrada's predecessor, King 
Magnus of Norway, had on one occasion asserted that, by 
virtue of a compact with our former king, Hardicanute, he was 
entitled to the English throne, no serious attempt had been 
made to enforce his pretensions. But the rivalry of the Saxon 
Harold and the Norman William was foreseen and bewailed 
by the Confessor, who was believed to have predicted on his 



l84 DECISIVE BATTLES [1066 

death-bed the calamities that were pending over England. 
Duke William was King Edward's kinsman. Harold was the 
head of the most powerful noble house, next to the royal 
blood, in England ; and personally he was the bravest and 
most popular chieftain in the land. King Edward was child- 
less, and the nearest collateral heir was a puny, unpromising 
boy. England had suffered too severely during royal minori- 
ties to make the accession of Edgar Atheling desirable ; and 
long before King Edward's death. Earl Harold was the des- 
tined king of the nation's choice, though the favor of the 
Confessor was believed to lean towards the Norman duke. 

A little time before the death of King Edward, Harold was 
in Normandy. The causes of the voyage of the Saxon earl 
to the Continent are doubtful ; but the fact of his having been, 
in 1065, at the ducal court, and in the power of his rival, is 
indisputable. William made skilful and unscrupulous use of 
the opportunity. Though Harold was treated with outward 
courtesy and friendship, he was made fully aware that his lib- 
erty and life depended on his compliance with the duke's 
requests. William said to him, in apparent confidence and 
cordiality, " When King Edward and I once lived like broth- 
ers under the same roof, he promised that if ever he became 
king of England, he would make me heir to his throne. Har- 
old, I wish that thou wouldst assist me to realize this prom- 
ise." Harold replied with expressions of assent; and further 
agreed, at William's request, to marry William's daughter 
Adela, and to send over his own sister to be married to one of 
William's barons. The crafty Norman was not content with 
this extorted promise ; he determined to bind Harold by a 
more solemn pledge, which, if broken, would be a weight on 
the spirit of the gallant Saxon, and a discouragement to others 
from adopting his cause. Before a full assembly of the Nor- 
man barons, Harold was required to do homage to Duke 
William, as the heir apparent of the English crown. Kneel- 
ing down, Harold placed his hands between those of the duke, 
and repeated the solemn form by which he acknowledged the 
duke as his lord, and promised to him fealty and true service. 
But William exacted more. He had caused all the bones and 
relics of saints, that were preserved in the Norman monas- 
teries and churches, to be collected into a chest, which was 



io66] BATTLE OF HASTINGS 185 

placed in the council-room, covered over with a cloth of gold. 
On the chest of relics, which were thus concealed, was laid a 
missal. The duke then solemnly addressed his titular guest 
and real captive, and said to him, " Harold, I require thee, 
before this noble assembly, to confirm by oath the promises 
which thou hast made me, to assist me in obtaining the crown 
of England after King Edward's death, to marry my daughter 
Adela, and to send me thy sister, that I may give her in mar- 
riage to one of my barons." Harold, once more taken by 
surprise, and not able to deny his former words, approached 
the missal, and laid his hand on it, not knowing that the chest 
of relics was beneath. The old Norman chronicler Wace, 
who describes the scene most minutely, says, when Harold 
placed his hand on it, the hand trembled and the flesh quiv- 
ered ; but he swore, and promised upon his oath, to take Ele 
[Adela] to wife, and to deliver up England to the duke, and 
thereunto to do all in his power, according to his might and 
wit, after the death of Edward, if he himself should live : so 
help him God. Many cried, " God grant it ! " and when Har- 
old rose from his knees the duke made him stand close to the 
chest, and took off the pall that had covered it, and showed 
Harold upon what holy relics he had sworn ; and Harold was 
sorely alarmed at the sight. 

Harold was soon after this permitted to return to England ; 
and, after a short interval, during which he distinguished him- 
self by the wisdom and humanity with which he pacified some 
formidable tumults of the Anglo-Danes in Northumbria, he 
found himself called on to decide whether he would keep the 
oath which the Norman had obtained from him, or mount the 
vacant throne of England in compliance with the nation's 
choice. King Edward the Confessor died on the 5th of Janu- 
ary, 1066, and on the following day an assembly of the thanes 
and prelates present in London, and of the citizens of the 
metropolis, declared that Harold should be their king. It 
was reported that the dying Edward had nominated him as 
his successor ; but the sense which his countrymen enter- 
tained of his preeminent merit was the true foundation of his 
title to the crown. Harold resolved to disregard the oath 
which he made in Normandy, as violent and void, and on the 
7th day of that January he was anointed king of England, 



l86 DECISIVE BATTLES [1066 

and received from the archbishop's hands the golden crown 
and scepter of England, and also an ancient national symbol, 
a weighty battle-ax. He had deep and speedy need of this 
significant part of the insignia of Saxon royalty. 

A messenger from Normandy soon arrived to remind 
Harold of the oath which he had sworn to the duke " with his 
mouth, and his hand upon good and holy relics." " It is 
true," replied the Saxon king, "that I took an oath to 
William ; but I took it under constraint : I promised what did 
not belong to me — what I could not in any way hold : my 
royalty is not my own ; I could not lay it down against the 
will of the country, nor can I against the will of the country 
take a foreign wife. As for my sister, whom the duke claims, 
that he may marry her to one of his chiefs, she has died 
within the year ; would he have me send her corpse .'' " 

William sent another message, which met with a similar 
answer; and then the duke published far and wide through 
Christendom what he termed the perjury and bad faith of his 
rival, and proclaimed his intention of asserting his rights by 
the sword before the year should expire, and of pursuing and 
punishing the perjurer even in those places where he thought 
he stood most strongly and most securely. 

Before, however, he commenced hostilities, William, with 
deep-laid policy, submitted his claims to the decision of the 
pope. Harold refused to acknowledge this tribunal, or to 
answer before an Italian priest for his title as an English king. 
After a formal examination of William's complaints by the 
pope and the cardinals, it was solemnly adjudged at Rome 
that England belonged to the Norman duke ; and a banner 
was sent to William from the holy see, which the pope him- 
self had consecrated and blessed for the invasion of this 
island. The clergy throughout the Continent were now 
assiduous and energetic in preaching up William's enterprise 
as undertaken in the cause of God. Besides these spiritual 
arms (the effect of which in the eleventh century must not be 
measured by the philosophy or the indifferentism of the 
nineteenth), the Norman duke applied all the energies of his 
mind and body, all the resources of his duchy, and all the 
influence he possessed among vassals or allies, to the collec- 
tion of " the most remarkable and formidable armament which 



io66] BATTLE OF HASTINGS 187 

the Western nations had witnessed." [Mackintosh.] All the 
adventurous spirits of Christendom flocked to the holy banner, 
under which Duke William, the most renowned knight and 
sagest general of the age, promised to lead them to glory and 
wealth in the fair domains of England. His army was filled 
with the chivalry of Continental Europe, all eager to save their 
souls by fighting at the pope's bidding, ardent to signalize 
their valor in so great an enterprise, and longing also for the 
pay and the plunder which William liberally promised. But 
the Normans themselves were the pith and the flower of the 
army ; and William himself was the strongest, the sagest, and 
fiercest spirit of them all. 

Throughout the spring and summer of 1066, all the sea- 
ports of Normandy, Picardy, and Brittany rang with the busy 
sound of preparation. On the opposite side of the Channel, 
King Harold collected the army and the fleet with which he 
hoped to crush the southern invaders. But the unexpected 
attack of King Harald Hardrada of Norway upon another 
part of England disconcerted the skilful measures which the 
Saxon had taken against the menacing armada of Duke 
William. ^ 

Harold's renegade brother, Earl Tostig, had excited the 
Norse king to this enterprise, the importance of which has 
naturally been eclipsed by the superior interest attached to 
the victorious expedition of Duke William, but which was on 
a scale of grandeur which the Scandinavian ports had rarely, 
if ever before, witnessed. Hardrada's fleet consisted of two 
hundred war-ships and three hundred other vessels, and all 
the best warriors of Norway were in his host. He sailed 
first to the Orkneys, where many of the islanders joined him, 
and then to Yorkshire. After a severe conflict near York 
he completely routed Earls Edwin and Morcar, the govern- 
ors of Northumbria. The city of York opened its gates, 
and all the country, from the Tyne to the Humber, sub- 
mitted to him. The tidings of the defeat of Edwin and 
Morcar compelled Harold to leave his position on the south- 
ern coast, and move instantly against the Norwegians. By 
a remarkably rapid march he reached Yorkshire in four 
days, and took the Norse king and his confederates by sur- 
prise. Nevertheless, the battle which ensued, and which 



1 88 DECISIVE BATTLES [1066 

was fought near Stamford Bridge, was desperate and was 
long doubtful. Unable to break the ranks of the Norwegian 
phalanx by force, Harold at length tempted them to quit their 
close order by a pretended flight. Then the English columns 
burst in among them, and a carnage ensued, the extent of 
which may be judged of by the exhaustion and inactivity of 
Norway for a quarter of a century afterwards. King Harald 
Hardrada, and all the flower of his nobility, perished on the 
25th of September, 1066, at Stamford Bridge; a battle 
which was a Flodden to Norway. 

Harold's victory was splendid ; but he had bought it dearly 
by the fall of many of his best officers and men ; and still 
more dearly by the opportunity which Duke William had 
gained of effecting an unopposed landing on the Sussex 
coast. The whole of William's shipping had assembled at 
the mouth of the Dive, a little river between the Seine and 
the Orme, as early as the middle of August. The army 
which he had collected amounted to fifty thousand knights, 
and ten thousand soldiers of inferior degree. Many of the 
knights were mounted, but many must have served on foot ; 
as it is hardly possible to believe that William could have 
found transports for the conveyance of fifty thousand war- 
horses across the Channel. For a long time the winds were 
adverse ; and the duke employed the interval that passed 
before he could set sail in completing the organization and 
in improving the discipline of his army, which he seems to 
have brought into the same state of perfection as was seven 
centuries and a half afterwards the boast of another army 
assembled on the same coast, and which Napoleon designed 
(but providentially in vain) for a similar descent upon England. 

It was not till the approach of the equinox that the wind 
veered from the northeast to the west, and gave the Nor- 
mans an opportunity of quitting the weary shores of the 
Dive. They eagerly embarked and set sail ; but the wind 
soon freshened to a gale, and drove them along the French 
coast to St. Valery, where the greater part of them found 
shelter; but many of their vessels were wrecked, and the 
whole coast of Normandy was strewn with the bodies of the 
drowned. William's army began to grow discouraged and 
averse to the enterprise, which the very elements thus seemed 



io66J BATTLE OF HASTINGS 1 89 

to fight against ; though in reality the northeast wind which 
had cooped them so long at the mouth of the Dive, and the 
western gale which had forced them into St. Valery, were 
the best possible friends to the invaders. They prevented 
the Normans from crossing the Channel until the Saxon king 
and his army of defense had been called away from the 
Sussex coast to encounter Harald Hardrada in Yorkshire ; 
and also until a formidable English fleet, which by King 
Harold's orders had been cruising in the Channel to inter- 
cept the Normans, had been obliged to disperse temporarily 
for the purpose of refitting and taking in fresh stores of 
provisions. 

Duke William used every expedient to reanimate the droop- 
ing spirits of his men at St. Valery; and at last he caused 
the body of the patron saint of the place to be exhumed and 
carried in solemn procession, while the whole assemblage of 
soldiers, mariners, and appurtenant priests implored the 
saint's intercession for a change of wind. That very night 
the wind veered, and enabled the medieval Agamemnon to 
quit his Aulis. 

With full sails, and a following southern breeze, the Nor- 
man armada left the French shores and steered for England. 
The invaders crossed an vmdefended sea, and found an 
undefended coast. It was in Pevensey Bay in Sussex, at 
Bulverhithe, between the castle of Pevensey and Hastings, 
that the last conquerors of this island landed, on the 29th of 
September, 1066. 

Harold was at York, rejoicing over his recent victory, 
which had delivered England from her ancient Scandinavian 
foes, and resettling the government of the counties which 
Harald Hardrada had overrun, when the tidings reached 
him that Duke William of Normandy and his host had 
landed on the Sussex shore. Harold instantly hurried south- 
ward to meet this long-expected enemy. The severe loss 
which his army had sustained in the battle with the Norwe- 
gians must have made it impossible for any large number of 
veteran troops to accompany him in his forced march to 
London, and thence to Sussex. He halted at the capital 
only six days ; and during that time gave orders for collect- 
ing forces from his southern and midland counties, and also 



190 DECISIVE BATTLES [1066 

directed his fleet to reassemble off the Sussex coast. Harold 
was well received in London, and his summons to arms was 
promptly obeyed by citizen, by thane, by sokman, and by 
ceorl ; for he had shown himself during his brief reign a just 
and wise king, affable to all men, active for the good of his 
country, and (in the words of the old historian) sparing him- 
self from no fatigue by land or sea. He might have gathered 
a much more numerous force than that of William, but his 
recent victory had made him over-confident, and he was 
irritated by the reports of the country being ravaged by the 
invaders. As soon, therefore, as he had collected a small 
army in London, he marched off towards the coast ; pressing 
forward as rapidly as his men could traverse Surrey and 
Sussex, in the hope of taking the Normans unawares, as he 
had recently by a similar forced march succeeded in surpris- 
ing the Norwegians. But he had now to deal with a foe 
equally brave with Harald Hardrada, and far more skilful 
and wary. 

The old Norman chroniclers describe the preparations of 
William on his landing, with a graphic vigor which would be 
wholly lost by transfusing their racy Norman couplets and 
terse Latin prose into the current style of modern history. It 
is best to follow them closely, though at the expense of much 
quaintness and occasional uncouthness of expression. They 
tell us how Duke William's own ship was the first of the Nor- 
man fleet. " It was called the Mora, and was the gift of his 
duchess, Matilda. On the head of the ship in the front, which 
mariners call the prow, there was a brazen child bearing an 
arrow with a bended bow. His face was turned towards Eng- 
land, and thither he looked, as though he were about to shoot. 
The breeze became soft and sweet, and the sea was smooth for 
their landing. The ships ran on dry land, and each ranged 
by the other's side. There you might see the good sailors, 
the sergeants, and squires sally forth and unload the ships ; 
cast the anchors, haul the ropes, bear out shields and saddles, 
and land the war-horses and palfreys. The archers came 
forth, and touched land the first, each with his bow strung, 
and with his quiver full of arrows, slung at his side. All 
were shaven and shorn ; and all clad in short garments, ready 
to attack, to shoot, to wheel about and skirmish. All stood 



io66] BATTLE OF HASTINGS 191 

well equipped, and of good courage for the fight ; and they 
scoured the whole shore, but found not an armed man there. 
After the archers had thus gone forth, the knights landed all 
armed, with their hauberks on, their shields slung at their 
necks, and their helmets laced. They formed together on 
the shore, each armed, and mounted on his war-horse : all 
had their swords girded on, and rode forward into the coun- 
try with their lances raised. Then the carpenters landed, 
who had great axes in their hands, and planes and adzes 
hung at their sides. They took counsel together, and sought 
for a good spot to place a castle on. They had brought with 
them in the fleet three wooden castles from Normandy, in 
pieces, all ready for framing together, and they took the 
materials of one of these out of the ships, all shaped and 
pierced to receive the pins which they had brought cut and 
ready in large barrels ; and before evening had set in they 
had finished a good fort on the English ground, and there 
they placed their stores. All then ate and drank enough, 
and were right glad that they were ashore. 

"When Duke William himself landed, as he stepped on the 
shore, he slipped and fell forward upon his two hands. Forth- 
with all raised a loud cry of distress. ' An evil sign,' said they, 
' is here.' But he cried out lustily, ' See, my lords ! by the 
splendor of God, I have taken possession of England with 
both my hands. It is now mine ; and what is mine is yours.' 

" The next day they marched along the seashore to Has- 
tings. Near that place the duke fortified a camp, and set up 
the two other wooden castles. The foragers, and those who 
looked out for booty, seized all the clothing and provisions 
they could find, lest what had been brought by the ships 
should fail them. And the English were to be seen fleeing 
before them, driving off their cattle, and quitting their houses. 
Many took shelter in burying-places, and even there they 
were in grievous alarm." 

Besides the marauders from the Norman camp, strong 
bodies of cavalry were detached by William into the country, 
and these, when Harold and his army made their rapid march 
from London southward, fell back in good order upon the 
main body of the Normans, and reported that the Saxon king 
was rushing on like a madman. But Harold, when he found 



192 DECISIVE BATTLES [1066 

that his hopes of surprising his adversary were vain, changed 
his tactics, and halted about seven miles from the Norman 
lines. He sent some spies, who spoke the French language, 
to examine the number and preparations of the enemy, who, 
on their return, related with astonishment that there were 
more priests in William's camp than there were fighting men 
in the English army. They had mistaken for priests all the 
Norman soldiers who had short hair and shaven chins ; for 
the English laymen were then accustomed to wear long hair 
and mustaches. Harold, who knew the Norman usages, 
smiled at their words and said, " Those whom you have seen 
in such numbers are not priests, but stout soldiers, as they will 
soon make us feel." 

Harold's army was far inferior in number to that of the 
Normans, and some of his captains advised him to retreat 
upon London, and lay waste the country, so as to starve down 
the strength of the invaders. The policy thus recommended 
was unquestionably the wisest ; for the Saxon fleet had now 
reassembled, and intercepted all William's communications 
with Normandy ; so that as soon as his stores of provisions 
were exhausted he must have moved forward upon London ; 
where Harold, at the head of the full military strength of the 
kingdom, could have defied his assault, and probably might 
have witnessed his rival's destruction by famine and disease, 
without having to strike a single blow. But Harold's bold 
blood was up, and his kindly heart could not endure to inflict 
on his South Saxon subjects even the temporary misery of 
wasting the country. " He would not burn houses and vil- 
lages, neither would he take away the substance of his people." 

Harold's brothers, Gurth and Leofwine, were with him in 
the camp, and Gurth endeavored to persuade him to absent 
himself from the battle. The incident shows how well devised 
had been William's scheme of binding Harold by the oath on 
the holy relics. " My brother," said the young Saxon prince, 
" thou canst not deny that either by force or free will thou 
hast made Duke William an oath on the bodies of saints. 
Why then risk thyself in the battle with a perjury upon thee ? 
To us, who have sworn nothing, this is a holy and a just war, 
for we are fighting for our country. Leave us, then, alone 
to fight this battle, and he who has the right will win." Har- 



io66] BATTLE OF HASTINGS 193 

old replied that he would not look on while others risked their 
lives for him. Men would hold him a coward, and blame him 
for sending his best friends where he dared not go himself. 
He resolved, therefore, to fight, and to fight in person ; but 
he was still too good a general to be the assailant in the action. 
He strengthened his position on the hill where he had halted, 
by a palisade of stakes interlaced with osier hurdles, and 
there, he said, he would defend himself against whoever should 
seek him. 

The ruins of Battle Abbey at this hour attest the place 
where Harold's army was posted. The high altar of the 
abbey stood on the very spot where Harold's own standard 
was planted during the fight, and where the carnage was the 
thickest. Immediately after his victory William vowed to 
build an abbey on the site ; and a fair and stately pile soon 
rose there, where for many ages the monks prayed and said 
masses for the souls of those who were slain in the battle, 
whence the abbey took its name. Before that time the place 
was called Senlac. Little of the ancient edifice now remains ; 
but it is easy to trace among its relics and in the neighbor- 
hood the scenes of the chief incidents in the action ; and it 
is impossible to deny the generalship shown by Harold in 
stationing his men ; especially when we bear in mind that he 
was deficient in cavalry, the arm in which his adversary's 
main strength consisted. 

A neck of hills trends inward for nearly seven miles from 
the high ground immediately to the northeast of Hastings. 
The line of this neck of hills is from southeast to northwest, 
and the usual route from Hastings to London must, in ancient 
as in modern times, have been along its summits. At the 
distance from Hastings which has been mentioned, the con- 
tinuous chain of hills ceases. A valley must be crossed, and 
on the other side of it, opposite to the last of the neck of hills, 
rises a high ground of some extent, facing to the southeast 
This high ground, then termed Senlac, was occupied by Har- 
old's army. It could not be attacked in front without con- 
siderable disadvantage to the assailants, and could hardly be 
turned without those engaged in the maneuver exposing 
themselves to a fatal charge in flank, while they wound round 
the base of the height, and underneath the ridges which pro- 



194 DECISIVE BATTLES [1066 

ject from it on either side. There was a rough and thickly 
wooded district in the rear, which seemed to offer Harold 
great facilities for rallying his men and checking the prog- 
ress of the enemy if they should succeed in forcing him back 
from his post. And it seemed scarcely possible that the 
Normans, if they met with any repulse, could save themselves 
from utter destruction. With such hopes and expectations 
(which cannot be termed unreasonable, though " Successum 
Dea dira negavit") King Harold bade his standard be set up 
a little way down the slope of Senlac Hill, at the point where 
the ascent from the valley was steep, and on which the fierc- 
est attacks of the advancing enemy were sure to be directed. 
The foundation-stones of the high altar of Battle Abbey 
have during late years been discovered ; and we may place 
our feet on the very spot where Harold stood, with England's 
banner waving over him ; where, when the battle was joined, 
he defended himself to the utmost ; where the fatal arrow 
came down on him ; where he " leaned in agony on his 
shield " ; and where at last he was beaten to the earth, and 
with him the Saxon banner was beaten down, like him never 
to rise again. The ruins of the altar are a little to the west 
of the high road which leads from Hastings along the neck 
of hills already described, across the valley, and through the 
modern town of Battle, towards London. Before a railway 
was made along this valley, some of the old local features 
were more easy than now to recognize. The eye then at 
once saw that the ascent from the valley was least steep at 
the point which Harold selected for his own post in the 
engagement. But this is still sufficiently discernible; and 
we can fix the spot, a little lower down the slope, immedi- 
ately in front of the high altar, where the brave Kentish 
men stood, " whose right it was to strike first whenever the 
king went to battle," and who, therefore, were placed where 
the Normans would be most likely to make their first charge. 
Round Harold himself, and where the plantations wave which 
now surround the high altar's ruins, stood the men of Lon- 
don, " whose privilege it was to guard the king's body, to 
place themselves around it, and to guard his standard." On 
the right and left were ranged the other warriors of Central 
and Southern England, whose shires the old Norman chroni- 



lo66] BATTLE OF HASTINGS 195 

cler distorts in his French nomenclature. Looking thence in 
the direction of Hastings, we can distinguish the " ridge of 
the rising ground over which the Normans appeared advanc- 
ing." It is the nearest of the neck of hills. It is along that 
hill that Harold and his brothers saw approach in succession 
the three divisions of the Norman army. The Normans came 
down that slope, and then formed in the valley, so as to 
assault the whole front of the English position. Duke Will- 
iam's own division, with " the best men and greatest strength 
of the army," made the Norman center, and charged the Eng- 
lish immediately in front of Harold's banner, as the nature 
of the ground had led the Saxon king to anticipate. 

There are few battles the localities of which can be more 
completely traced ; and the whole scene is fraught with asso- 
ciations of deep interest ; but the spot which, most of all, 
awakens our sympathy and excites our feelings is that where 
Harold himself fought and fell. The crumbling fragments of 
the gray altar-stones, with the wild flowers that cling around 
their base, seem fitting memorials of the brave Saxon who 
there bowed his head in death ; while the laurel-trees that 
are planted near, and wave over the ruins, remind us of the 
Conqueror, who there, at the close of that dreadful day, 
reared his victorious standard high over the trampled ban- 
ner of the Saxon, and held his triumphant carousal amid 
the corses of the slain, with his Norman chivalry exulting 
around him. 

When it was known in the invaders' camp at Hastings 
that King Harold had marched southward with his power, 
but a brief interval ensued before the two hosts met in deci- 
sive encounter. 

William's only chance of safety lay in bringing on a gen- 
eral engagement ; and he joyfully advanced his army from 
their camp on the hill over Hastings, nearer to the Saxon 
position. But he neglected no means of weakening his oppo- 
nent, and renewed his summonses and demands on Harold 
with an ostentatious air of sanctity and moderation. 

" A monk named Hugues Maigrot came in William's name 
to call upon the Saxon king to do one of three things — either 
to resign his royalty in favor of William, or to refer it to the 
arbitration of the pope to decide which of the two ought to 



196 DECISIVE BATTLES [1066 

be king, or to let it be determined by the issue of a single 
combat. Harold abruptly replied, * I will not resign my title, 
I will not refer it to the pope, nor will I accept the single 
combat.' He was far from being deficient in bravery; but 
he was no more at liberty to stake the crown which he had 
received from a whole people on the chance of a duel than to 
deposit it in the hands of an Italian priest. William was not 
at all ruffled by the Saxon's refusal, but steadily pursuing the 
course of his calculated measures, sent the Norman monk 
again, after giving him these instructions : ' Go and tell Harold 
that if he will keep his former compact with me, I will leave 
to him all the country which is beyond the Humber, and will 
give his brother Gurth all the lands which Godwin held. If 
he still persist in refusing my offers, then thou shalt tell him, 
before all his people, that he is a perjurer and a liar ; that he, 
and all who shall support him, are excommunicated by the 
mouth of the pope ; and that the bull to that effect is in my 
hands.' 

" Hugues Maigrot delivered this message in a solemn tone ; 
and the Norman chronicle says that at the word excomnmni- 
cation the English chiefs looked at one another as if some 
great danger were impending. One of them then spoke as 
follows : ' We must fight, whatever may be the danger to us ; 
for what we have to consider is not whether we shall accept 
and receive a new lord as if our king were dead : the case is 
quite otherwise. The Norman has given our lands to his 
captains, to his knights, to all his people, the greater part of 
whom have already done homage to him for them ; they will 
all look for their gift, if their duke become our king ; and he 
himself is bound to deliver up to them our goods, our wives, 
and our daughters : all is promised to them beforehand. They 
come, not only to ruin us, but to ruin our descendants also, 
and to take from us the country of our ancestors. And what 
shall we do — whither shall we go — when we have no longer 
a country .•" ' The English promised, by a unanimous oath, 
to make neither peace nor truce nor treaty with the invader, 
but to die or drive away the Normans." [Thierry.] 

The 1 3th of October was occupied in these negotiations : 
and at night the duke announced to his men that the next day 
would be the day of battle. That night is said to have 



io66] BATTLE OF HASTINGS 197 

been passed by the two armies in very different manners. 
The Saxon soldiers spent it in joviality, singing their national 
songs, and draining huge horns of ale and wine round their 
camp-fires. The Normans, when they had looked to their 
arms and horses, confessed themselves to the priests, with 
whom their camp was thronged, and received the sacrament 
by thousands at a time. 

On Saturday, the 14th of October, was fought the great 
battle. 

It is not difficult to compose a narrative of its principal 
incidents, from the historical information which we possess, 
especially if aided by an examination of the ground. But it 
is far better to adopt the spirit-stirring words of the old chron- 
iclers, who wrote while the recollections of the battle were yet 
fresh, and while the feelings and prejudices of the combatants 
yet glowed in the bosoms of their near descendants. Robert 
Wace, the Norman poet, who presented his " Roman de Rou " 
to our Henry II., is the most picturesque and animated of the 
old writers ; and from him we can obtain a more vivid and 
full description of the conflict than even the most brilliant 
romance writer of the present time can supply. We have 
also an antique memorial of the battle, more to be relied on 
than either chronicler or poet (and which confirms Wace's 
narrative remarkably), in the celebrated Bayeux tapestry, 
which represents the principal scenes of Duke William's 
expedition, and of the circumstances connected with it, in 
minute though occasionally grotesque details, and which was 
undoubtedly the production of the same age in which the 
battle took place, whether we admit or reject the legend that 
Queen Matilda and the ladies of her court wrought it with 
their own hands in honor of the royal Conqueror. 

Let us therefore suffer the old Norman chronicler to trans- 
port our imaginations to the fair Sussex scenery, northwest 
of Hastings, with its breezy uplands, its grassy slopes, and 
ridges of open down swelling inland from the sparkling sea, 
its scattered copses, and its denser glades of intervening 
forests, clad in all the varied tints of autumn, as they appeared 
on the morning of the 14th of October, seven hundred and 
eighty-five years ago. The Norrnan host is pouring forth 
from its tents ; and each troop, and each company, is forming 



198 DECISIVE BATTLES [1066 

fast under the banner of its leader. The masses have been 
sung, which were finished betimes in the morning ; the barons 
have all assembled round Duke William ; and the duke has 
ordered that the army shall be formed in three divisions, so 
as to make the attack upon the Saxon position in three places. 
The duke stood on a hill where he could best see his men ; 
the barons surrounded him, and he spoke to them proudly. 
He told them how he trusted them, and how all that he gained 
should be theirs ; and how sure he felt of conquest, for in all 
the world there was not so brave an army or such good men 
and true as were then forming around him. Then they 
cheered him in turn, and cried out, " ' You will not see one 
coward ; none here will fear to die for love of you, if need be.' 
And he answered them, * I thank you well. For God's sake 
spare not ; strike hard at the beginning ; stay not to take 
spoil ; all the booty shall be in common, and there will be 
plenty for every one. There will be no safety in asking 
quarter or in flight : the English will never love or spare a 
Norman. Felons they were, and felons they are ; false they 
were, and false they will be. Show no weakness towards 
them, for they will have no pity on you. Neither the coward 
for running well, nor the bold man for smiting well, will be 
the better liked by the English, nor will any be the more 
spared on either account. You may fly to the sea, but you 
can fly no farther; you will find neither ships nor bridge 
there ; there will be no sailors to receive you ; and the Eng- 
lish will overtake you there and slay you in your shame. 
More of you will die in flight than in the battle. Then, as 
flight will not secure you, fight, and you will conquer. I have 
no doubt of the victory : we are come for glory, the victory 
is in our hands, and we may make sure of obtaining it if we 
so please.' As the duke was speaking thus, and would yet 
have spoken more, William Fitz Osber rode up, with his horse 
all coated with iron: 'Sire,' said he, 'we tarry here too long, 
let us all arm ourselves. Allans ! AlloJis!' 

" Then all went to their tents, and armed themselves as 
they best might ; and the duke was very busy, giving every 
one his orders ; and he was courteous to all the vassals, giving 
away many arms and horses to them. When he prepared to 
arm himself, he called first for his good hauberk, and a man 



io66] BATTLE OF HASTINGS 199 

brought it on his arm, and placed it before him, but in putting 
his head in, to get it on, he unawares turned it the wrong 
way, with the back part in front. He soon changed it, but 
when he saw that those who stood by were sorely alarmed, 
he said, ' I have seen many a man who, if such a thing had 
happened to him, would not have borne arms, or entered the 
field the same day ; but I never believed in omens, and I 
never will. I trust in God, for he does in all things his 
pleasure, and ordains what is to come to pass, according to 
his will. I have never liked fortune-tellers, nor believed in 
diviners ; but I commend myself to our Lady. Let not this 
mischance give you trouble. The hauberk which was turned 
wrong, and then set right by me, signifies that a change will 
arise out of the matter which we are now stirring. You shall 
see the name of duke changed into king. Yea, a king shall 
I be, who hitherto have been but duke.' Then he crossed 
himself, and straightway took his hauberk, stooped his head, 
and put it on aright, and laced his helmet, and girt on his 
sword, which a varlet brought him. Then the duke called 
for his good horse — a better could not be found. It had 
been sent him by a king of Spain, out of very great friend- 
ship. Neither arms nor the press of fighting men did it fear, 
if its lord spurred it on. Walter Giffard brought it. The 
duke stretched out his hand, took the reins, put foot in stirrup, 
and mounted ; and the good horse pawed, pranced, reared 
himself up, and curveted. The Viscount of Toarz saw how 
the duke bore himself in arms, and said to his people that were 
around him, ' Never have I seen a man so fairly armed, nor 
one who rode so gallantly, or bore his arms or became his 
hauberk so well ; neither any one who bore his lance so grace- 
fully, or sat his horse and managed him so nobly. There is 
no such knight under heaven ! a fair count he is, and fair 
king he will be. Let him fight, and he shall overcome : shame 
be to the man who shall fail him.' 

" Then the duke called for the standard which the pope had 
sent him, and he who bore it having unfolded it, the duke took 
it, and called to Raol de Conches. ' Bear my standard,' said 
he, ' for I would not but do you right ; by right and by ancestry 
your line are standard-bearers of Normandy, and very good 
knights have they all been.' But Raol said that he would 



200 DECISIVE BATTLES [1066 

serve the duke that day in other guise, and would fight the 
English with his hand as long as life should last. Then the 
duke bade Galtier Giffart bear the standard. But he was old 
and white-headed, and bade the duke give the standard to 
some younger and stronger man to carry. Then the duke 
said fiercely, ' By the splendor of God, my lords, I think you 
mean to betray and fail me in this great need.' ' Sire,' said 
Giffart, ' not so ! we have done no treason, nor do I refuse 
from any felony towards you ; but I have to lead a great 
chivalry, both hired men and the men of my fief. Never had 
I such good means of serving you as I now have ; and if God 
please, I will serve you ; if need be, I will die for you, and 
will give my own heart for yours.' 

" ' By my faith,' quoth the duke, ' I always loved thee, and 
now I love thee more ; if I survive this day, thou shalt be 
the better for it all thy days.' Then he called out a knight, 
whom he had heard much praised, Tosteins Fitz-Rou le Blanc 
by name, whose abode was at Bec-en-Caux. To him he de- 
livered the standard ; and Tosteins took it right cheerfully, 
and bowed low to him in thanks, and bore it gallantly, and 
with good heart. His kindred still have quittance of all ser- 
vice for their inheritance on that account, and their heirs are 
entitled so to hold their inheritance forever. 

" William sat on his war-horse, and called on Rogier, whom 
they call De Mongomeri. ' I rely much upon you,' said he ; 
* lead your men thitherward, and attack them from that side. 
William, the son of Osber the seneschal, a right good vassal, 
shall go with you and help in the attack, and you shall have 
the men of Boulogne and Poix, and all my soldiers. Alain 
Fergert and Ameri shall attack on the other side ; they shall 
lead the Poitevins and the Bretons, and all the barons of 
Maine ; and I, with my own great men, my friends and kin- 
dred, will fight in the middle throng, where the battle shall 
be the hottest.' 

" The barons, and knights, and men-at-arms were all now 
armed ; the foot-soldiers were well equipped, each bearing 
bow and sword ; on their heads were caps, and to their feet 
were bound buskins. Some had good hides which they had 
bound round their bodies ; and many were clad in frocks, and 
had quivers and bows hung to their girdles. The knights 



io66] BATTLE OF HASTINGS 2Pt 

had hauberks and swords, boots of steel and shining helmets ; 
shields at their necks, and in their hands lances. And all 
had their cognizances, so that each might know his fellow, 
and Norman might not strike Norman, nor Frenchman kill 
his countryman by mistake. Those on foot led the way, with 
serried ranks, bearing their bows. The knights rode next, 
supporting the archers from behind. Thus both horse and 
foot kept their course and order of march as they began ; in 
close ranks, at a gentle pace, that the one might not pass or 
separate from the other. All went firmly and compactly, 
bearing themselves gallantly. 

" Harold had summoned his men, earls, barons, and vava- 
sors, from the castles and the cities ; from the ports, the 
villages, and boroughs. The peasants were also called to- 
gether from the villages, bearing such arms as they found ; 
clubs and great picks, iron forks and stakes. The English 
had enclosed the place where Harold was, with his friends 
and the barons of the country whom he had summoned and 
called together. 

"Those of London had come at once, and those of Kent, 
Hertfort, and of Essesse ; those of Suree and Susesse, of St. 
Edmund and Sufoc ; of Norwis and Norfoc ; of Cantorbierre 
and Stanfort ; Bedefort and Hundetone. The men of North- 
anton also came ; and those of Eurowic and Bokinkeham, of 
Bed and Notinkeham, Lindesie and Nichole. There came 
also from the west all who heard the summons ; and very 
many were to be seen coming from Salebiere and Dorset, 
from Bat and from Somerset. Many came, too, from about 
Glocestre, and many from Wirecestre, from Wincestre, Hon- 
tesire, and Brichesire ; and many more from other counties 
that we have not named, and cannot indeed recount. All 
who could bear arms, and had learned the news of the duke's 
arrival, came to defend the land. But none came from be- 
yond Humbre, for they had other business upon their hands, 
the Danes and Tosti having much damaged and weakened 
them. 

" Harold knew that the Normans would come and attack 
him hand to hand ; so he had early enclosed the field in which 
he placed his men. He made them arm early, and range 
themselves for the battle ; he himself having put on arms and 



202 DECISIVE BATTLES [1066 

equipments that became such a lord. The duke, he said, 
ought to seek him, as he wanted to conquer England ; and it 
became him to abide the attack, who had to defend the land. 
He commanded the people, and counseled his barons to keep 
themselves all together, and defend themselves in a body ; for 
if they once separated, they would with difficulty recover 
themselves. ' The Normans,' he said, ' are good vassals, 
valiant on foot and on horseback ; good knights are they on 
horseback, and well used to battle ; all is lost if they once 
penetrate our ranks. They have brought long lances and 
swords, but you have pointed lances and keen-edged bills ; 
and I do not expect that their arms can stand against yours. 
Cleave wherever you can ; it will be ill done if you spare 
aught.' 

" The English had built up a fence before them with their 
shields and with ash and other wood ; and had well joined 
and wattled in the whole work, so as not to leave even a 
crevice ; and thus they had a barricade in their front through 
which any Norman who would attack them must first pass. 
Being covered in this way by their shields and barricades, 
their aim was to defend themselves ; and if they had re- 
mained steady for that purpose they would not have been 
conquered that day ; for every Norman who made his way 
in lost his life, either by hatchet or bill, by club, or other 
weapons. They wore short and close hauberks, and helmets 
that hung over their garments. King Harold issued orders 
and made proclamation round that all should be ranged with 
their faces towards the enemy ; and that no one should move 
from where he was ; so that, whoever came, might find them 
ready ; and that whatever any one, be he Norman or other, 
should do, each should do his best to defend his own place. 
Then he ordered the men of Kent to go where the Normans 
were likely to make the attack ; for they say that the men of 
Kent are entitled to strike first ; and that whenever the king 
goes to battle, the first blow belongs to them. The right 
of the men of London is to guard the king's body, to place 
themselves around him, and to guard his standard ; and they 
^ were accordingly placed by the standard to watch and defend it 

" When Harold had made his reply and given his orders, he 
came into the midst of the English, and dismounted by the 



io66] BATTLE OF HASTINGS 203 

side of the standard : Leofwine and Gurth, his brothers, 
were with him, and around him he had barons enough, as 
he stood by his standard, which was in truth a noble one, 
sparkling with gold and precious stones. After the victory, 
William sent it to the pope, to prove and commemorate his 
great conquest and glory. The English stood in close ranks, 
ready and eager for the fight ; and they moreover made a 
fosse, which went across the field, guarding one side of their 
army. 

" Meanwhile the Normans appeared advancing over the 
ridge of a rising ground ; and the first division of their troops 
moved onwards along the hill and across a valley. And pres- 
ently another division, still larger, came in sight, close follow- 
ing upon the first, and they were led towards another part of 
the field, forming together as the first body had done. And 
while Harold saw and examined them, and was pointing them 
out to Gurth, a fresh company came in sight, covering all the 
plain ; and in the midst of them was raised the standard that 
came from Rome. Near it was the duke, and the best men 
and greatest strength of the army were there. The good 
knights, the good vassals, and brave warriors were there ; and 
there were gathered together the gentle barons, the good arch- 
ers, and the men-at-arms, whose duty it was to guard the duke, 
and range themselves around him. The youths and common 
herd of the camp, whose business was not to join in the battle, 
but to take care of the harness and stores, moved off towards 
a rising ground. The priests and the clerks also ascended a 
hill, there to offer up prayers to God, and watch the event of 
the battle. 

" The English stood firm on foot in close ranks, and carried 
themselves right boldly. Each man had his hauberk on, with 
his sword girt, and his shield at his neck. Great hatchets were 
also slung at their necks, with which they expected to strike 
heavy blows. 

" The Normans brought on the three divisions of their army 
to attack at different places. They set out in three companies, 
and in three companies did they fight. The first and second 
had come up, and then advanced the third, which was the 
greatest ; with that came the duke with his own men, and all 
moved boldly forward. 



204 DECISIVE BATTLES [1066 

" As soon as the two armies were in full view of each other, 
great noise and tumult arose. You might hear the sound of 
many trumpets, of bugles, and of horns ; and then you might 
see men ranging themselves in line, lifting their shields, rais- 
ing their lances, bending their bows, handling their arrows, 
ready for assault and defense. 

" The English stood ready to their post, the Normans still 
moved on ; and when they drew near, the English were to be 
seen stirring to and fro ; were going and coming ; troops rang- 
ing themselves in order ; some with their color rising, others 
turning pale ; some making ready their arms, others raising 
their shields ; the brave man rousing himself to fight, the 
coward trembling at the approach of danger. 

" Then Taillefer, who sang right well, rode mounted on a 
swift horse, before the duke, singing of Charlemagne and of 
Roland, of Olivier and the peers who died in Roncesvalles. 
And when they drew nigh to the English, * A boon, sire ! ' 
cried Taillefer ; * I have long served you, and you owe me for 
all such service. To-day, so please you, you shall repay it. 
I ask as my guerdon, and beseech you for it earnestly, that 
you will allow me to strike the first blow in the battle ! ' And 
the duke answered, 'I grant it.' Then Taillefer put his horse 
to a gallop, charging before all the rest, and struck an English- 
man dead, driving his lance below the breast into his body, and 
stretching him upon the ground. Then he drew his sword, 
and struck another, crying out, ' Come on, come on ! What 
do ye, sirs .•' lay on, lay on ! ' At the second blow he struck, 
the English pushed forward, and surrounded and slew him. 
Forthwith arose the noise and cry of war, and on either side 
the people put themselves in motion. 

" The Normans moved on to the assault, and the English 
defended themselves well. Some were striking, others urging 
onward ; all were bold, and cast aside fear. And now, behold, 
that battle was gathered, whereof the fame is yet mighty. 

" Loud and far resounded the bray of the horns ; and the 
shocks of the lances, the mighty strokes of maces, and the 
quick clashing of swords. One while the Englishmen rushed 
on, another while they fell back ; one while the men from over 
the sea charged onward, and again at other times retreated. 
The Normans shouted ' Dex aie! ' the English people ' Out ! ' 



io66] BATTLE OF HASTINGS 205 

Then came the cunning maneuvers, the rude shocks and 
strokes of the lance and blows of the swords, among the ser- 
geants and soldiers, both English and Norman. 

" When the English fall, the Normans shout. Each side 
taunts and defies the other, yet neither knoweth what the other 
saith ; and the Normans say the English bark, because they 
understand not their speech. 

" Some wax strong, others weak ; the brave exult, but the 
cowards tremble, as men who are sore dismayed. The Nor- 
mans press on the assault, and the English defend their post 
well ; they pierce the hauberks, and cleave the shields, receive 
and return mighty blows. Again, some press forward, others 
yield ; and thus in various ways the struggle proceeds. In the 
plain was a fosse, which the Normans had now behind them, 
having passed it in the fight without regarding it. But the 
English charged, and drove the Normans before them till they 
made them fall back upon this fosse, overthrowing into it 
horses and men. Many were to be seen falling therein, roll- 
ing one over the other, with their faces to the earth, and 
unable to rise. Many of the English, also, whom the Nor- 
mans drew down along with them, died there. At no time dur- 
ing the day's battle did so many Normans die as perished in 
that fosse. So those said who saw the dead. 

" The varlets who were set to guard the harness began to 
abandon it as they saw the loss of the Frenchmen, when 
thrown back upon the fosse without power to recover them- 
selves. Being greatly alarmed at seeing the difficulty in 
restoring order, they began to quit the harness, and sought 
around, not knowing where to find shelter. The Duke Will- 
iam's brother, Odo, the good priest, the Bishop of Bayeux, 
galloped up, and said to them, ' Stand fast ! stand fast ! be 
quiet and move not ! fear nothing, for if God please, we shall 
conquer yet.' So they took courage, and rested where they 
were ; and Odo returned, galloping back to where the battle 
was most fierce, and was of great service on that day. He 
had put a hauberk on, over a white aube, wide in the body, 
with the sleeve tight ; and sat on a white horse, so that all might 
recognize him. In his hand he held a mace, and wherever he 
saw most need he held up and stationed the knights, and often 
urged them on to assault and strike the enemy. 



206 DECISIVE BATTLES [io66 

" From nine o'clock in the morning, when the combat be- 
gan, till three o'clock came, the battle was up and down, this 
way and that, and no one knew who would conquer and win 
the land. Both sides stood so firm and fought so well that 
no one could guess which would prevail. The Norman 
archers with their bows shot thickly upon the English ; but 
they covered themselves with their shields, so that the arrows 
could not reach their bodies, nor do any mischief, how true 
soever was their aim, or however well they shot. Then the 
Normans determined to shoot their arrows upwards into the 
air, so that they might fall on their enemies' heads, and strike 
their faces. The archers adopted this scheme, and shot up 
into the air towards the English ; and the arrows in falling 
struck their heads and faces, and put out the eyes of many ; 
and all feared to open their eyes, or leave their faces un- 
guarded. 

" The arrows now flew thicker than rain before the wind ; 
fast sped the shafts that the English called ' wibetes.' Then 
it was that an arrow, that had been thus shot upward, struck 
Harold above his right eye, and put it out. In his agony he 
drew the arrow and threw it away, breaking it with his hands ; 
and the pain to his head was so great that he leaned upon his 
shield. So the English were wont to say, and still say to the 
French, that the arrow was well shot which was so sent up 
against their king ; and that the archer won them great glory, 
who thus put out Harold's eye. 

" The Normans saw that the English defended themselves 
well, and were so strong in their position that they could do 
little against them. So they consulted together privily, and 
arranged to draw off, and pretend to flee, till the English should 
pursue and scatter themselves over the field ; for they saw 
that if they could once get their enemies to break their ranks, 
they might be attacked and discomfited much more easily. As 
they had said, so they did. The Normans by little and little 
fled, the English following them. As the one fell back, the 
other pressed after ; and when the Frenchmen retreated, the 
English thought and cried out that the men of France fled, 
and would never return. 

"Thus they were deceived by the pretended flight, and 
great mischief thereby befell them ; for if they had not moved 



lo66] BATTLE OF HASTINGS 20/ 

from their position, it is not likely that they would have been 
conquered at all ; but like fools they broke their lines and 
pursued. 

" The Normans were to be seen following up their strata- 
gem, retreating slowly so as to draw the English farther on. 
As they still flee, the English pursue ; they push out their 
lances and stretch forth their hatchets ; following the Nor- 
mans, as they go rejoicing in the success of their scheme, and 
scattering themselves over the plain. And the English mean- 
time jeered and insulted their foes with words. ' Cowards,' 
they cried, ' you came hither in an evil hour, wanting our 
lands, and seeking to seize our property, fools that ye were 
to come ! Normandy is too far off, and you will not easily 
reach it. It is of little use to run back ; unless you can cross 
the sea at a leap, or can drink it dry, your sons and daugh- 
ters are lost to you.' 

" The Normans bore it all, but in fact they knew not what 
the English said : their language seemed like the baying of 
dogs, which they could not understand. At length they 
stopped and turned round, determined to recover their ranks ; 
and the barons might be heard crying ' Dex aie ! ' for a halt. 
Then the Normans resumed their former position, turning 
their faces towards the enemy ; and their men were to be seen 
facing round and rushing onward to a fresh melee / the one 
party assaulting the other; this man striking, another press- 
ing onward. One hits, another misses ; one flies, another 
pursues ; one is aiming a stroke, while another discharges his 
blow. Norman strives with Englishman again, and aims his 
blow afresh. One flies, another pursues swiftly ; the combat- 
ants are many, the plain wide, the battle and the mel^e fierce. 
On every hand they fight hard, the blows are heavy, and the 
struggle becomes fierce. 

" The Normans were playing their part well, when an Eng- 
lish knight came rushing up, having in his company a hundred 
men, furnished with various arms. He wielded a northern 
hatchet, with the blade a full foot long ; and was well armed 
after his manner, being tall, bold, and of noble carriage. In 
the front of the battle where the Normans thronged most, he 
came bounding on swifter than the stag, many Normans 
falling before him and his company. He rushed straight 



208 DECISIVE BATTLES [1066 

upon a Norman who was armed and riding on a war-horse, 
and tried with his hatchet of steel to cleave his helmet ; but 
the blow miscarried, and the sharp blade glanced down before 
the saddle-bow, driving through the horse's neck down to the 
ground, so that both horse and master fell together to the 
earth. I know not whether the Englishman struck another 
blow ; but the Normans who saw the stroke were astonished, 
and about to abandon the assault, when Roger de Mongomeri 
came galloping up, with his lance set, and heeding not the 
long-handled ax, which the Englishman wielded aloft, struck 
him down, and left him stretched upon the ground. Then 
Roger cried out, * Frenchmen, strike ! the day is ours! ' And 
again a fierce melee was to be seen, with many a blow of 
lance and sword ; the English still defending themselves, kill- 
ing the horses and cleaving the shields. 

" There was a French soldier of noble mien, who sat his 
horse gallantly. He spied two Englishmen who were also 
carrying themselves boldly. They were both men of great 
worth, and had become companions in arms and fought to- 
gether, the one protecting the other. They bore two long 
and broad bills, and did great mischief to the Normans, kill- 
ing both horses and men. The French soldier looked at them 
and their bills, and was sore alarmed, for he was afraid of 
losing his good horse, the best that he had ; and would will- 
ingly have turned to some other quarter, if it would not have 
looked like cowardice. He soon, however, recovered his 
courage, and, spurring his horse, gave him the bridle, and 
galloped swiftly forward. Fearing the two bills, he raised 
his shield, and struck one of the Englishmen with his lance on 
the breast, so that the iron passed out at his back. At the 
moment that he fell the lance broke, and the Frenchman 
seized the mace that hung at his right side, and struck the 
other Englishman a blow that completely broke his skull. 

"On the other side was an Englishman who much annoyed 
the French, continually assaulting them with a keen-edged 
hatchet. He had a helmet made of wood, which he had fast- 
ened down to his coat, and laced round his neck, so that no 
blows could reach his head. The ravage he was making was 
seen by a gallant Norman knight, who rode a horse that 
neither fire nor water could stop in its career, when its master 



io66] BATTLE OF HASTINGS 209 

urged it on. The knight spurred, and his horse carried him 
on well till he charged the Englishman, striking him over 
the helmet, so that it fell down over his eyes ; and as he 
stretched out his hand to raise it and uncover the face, the 
Norman cut off his right hand, so that his hatchet fell to the 
ground. Another Norman sprang forward and eagerly- 
seized the prize with both his hands, but he kept it little 
space, and paid dearly for it, for as he stooped to pick up the 
hatchet, an Englishman with his long-handled ax struck 
him over the back, breaking all his bones, so that his entrails 
and lungs gushed forth. The knight of the good horse 
meantime returned without injury ; but on his way he met 
another Englishman, and bore him down under his horse, 
wounding him grievously, and trampling him altogether 
under foot. 

"And now might be heard the loud clang and cry of 
battle, and the clashing of lances. The English stood firm 
in their barricades, and shivered the lances, beating them 
into pieces with their bills and maces. The Normans drew 
their swords, and hewed down the barricades, and the Eng- 
lish in great trouble fell back upon their standard, where 
were collected the maimed and wounded. 

"There were many knights of Chauz, who jousted and 
made attacks. The English knew not how to joust, or bear 
arms on horseback, but fought with hatchets and bills. A 
man when he wanted to strike with one of their hatchets was 
obliged to hold it with both his hands, and could not at the 
same time, as it seems to me, both cover himself and strike 
with any freedom. 

" The English fell back towards the standard, which was 
upon a rising ground, and the Normans followed them across 
the valley, attacking them on foot and horseback. Then 
Hue de Mortemer, with the sires D'Auviler, D'Onebac, and 
St. Cler, rode up and charged, overthrowing many. 

" Robert Fitz Erneis fixed his lance, took his shield, and, 
galloping towards the standard, with his keen-edged sword 
struck an Englishman who was in front, killed him, and 
then, drawing back his sword, attacked many others, and 
pushed straight for the standard, trying to beat it down, but 
the English surrounded it, and killed him with their bills. 



^ 



2IO DECISIVE BATTLES [1066 

He was found on the spot, when they afterwards sought for 
him, dead, and lying at the standard's foot. 

" Duke William pressed close upon the English with his 
lance ; striving hard to reach the standard with the great 
troop he led; and seeking earnestly for Harold, on whose 
account the whole war was. The Normans follow their 
lord, and press around him ; they ply their blows upon the 
English ; and these defend themselves stoutly, striving hard 
with their enemies, returning blow for blow. 

" One of them was a man of great strength, a wrestler, 
who did great mischief to the Normans with his hatchet ; all 
feared him, for he struck down a great many Normans. 
The duke spurred on his horse, and aimed a blow at him, 
but he stooped, and so escaped the stroke ; then jumping on 
one side, he lifted his hatchet aloft, and as the duke bent to 
avoid the blow the Englishman boldly struck him on the 
head, and beat in his helmet, though without doing much 
injury. He was very near falling, however, but bearing on 
his stirrups he recovered himself immediately ; and when he 
thought to have revenged himself upon the churl by killing 
him, he had escaped, dreading the duke's blow. He ran 
back in among the English, but he was not safe even there ; 
for the Normans, seeing him, pursued and caught him ; and, 
having pierced him through and through with their lances, 
left him dead on the ground. 

" Where the throng of the battle was greatest, the men of 
Kent and Essex fought wondrously well, and made the Nor- 
mans again retreat, but without doing them much injury. 
And when the duke saw his men fall back and the English 
triumphing over them, his spirit rose high, and he seized his 
shield and his lance, which a vassal handed to him, and took 
his post by his standard. 

" Then those who kept close guard by him and rode where 
he rode, being about a thousand armed men, came and rushed 
with closed ranks upon the English ; and with the weight of 
their good horses, and the blows the knights gave, broke the 
press of the enemy, and scattered the crowd before them, 
the good duke leading them on in front. Many pursued and 
many fled ; many were the Englishmen who fell around, and 
were trampled under the horses, crawling upon the earth, 



io66] BATTLE OF HASTINGS 211 

and not able to rise. Many of the richest and noblest men 
fell in that rout, but the English still rallied in places ; smote 
down those whom they reached, and maintained the combat 
the best they could ; beating down the men and killing the 
horses. One Englishman watched the duke, and plotted to 
kill him ; he would have struck him with his lance, but he 
could not, for the duke struck him first, and felled him to 
the earth. 

" Loud was now the clamor, and great the slaughter ; many 
a soul then quitted the body it inhabited. The living marched 
over the heaps of dead, and each side was weary of striking. 
He charged on who could, and he who could no longer strike 
still pushed forward. The strong struggled with the strong ; 
some failed, others triumphed ; the cowards fell back, the 
brave pressed on ; and sad was his fate who fell in the midst, 
for he had little chance of rising again ; and many in truth 
fell, who never rose at all, being crushed under the throng. 

" And now the Normans pressed on so far, that at last they 
had reached the standard. There Harold had remained, de- 
fending himself to the utmost; but he was sorely wounded 
in his eye by the arrow, and suffered grievous pain from the 
blow. An armed man came in the throng of the battle, and 
struck him on the ventail of his helmet, and beat him to 
the ground ; and as he sought to recover himself, a knight 
beat him down again, striking him on the thick of his thigh, 
down to the bone. 

" Gurth saw the English falling around, and that there 
was no remedy. He saw his race hastening to ruin, and 
despaired of any aid ; he would have fled, but could not, for 
the throng continually increased. And the duke pushed on 
till he reached him, and struck him with great force. Whether 
he died of that blow I know not, but it was said that he fell 
under it, and rose no more. 

" The standard was beaten down, the golden standard was 
taken, and Harold and the best of his friends were slain ; but 
there was so much eagerness, and throng of so many around, 
seeking to kill him, that I know not who it was that slew him. 

" The English were in great trouble at having lost their 
king, and at the duke's having conquered and beat down the 
standard; but they still fought on, and defended themselves 



212 DECISIVE BATTLES [1066 

long, and in fact till the day drew to a close. Then it clearly 
appeared to all that the standard was lost, and the news had 
spread throughout the army that Harold for certain was dead; 
and all saw that there was no longer any hope, so they left 
the field, and those fled who could. 

" William fought well ; many an assault did he lead, many 
a blow did he give, and many receive, and many fell dead 
under his hand. Two horses were killed under him, and he 
took a third at time of need, so that he fell not to the ground ; 
and he lost not a drop of blood. But whatever any one did, 
and whoever lived or died, this is certain, that William con- 
quered, and that many of the English fled from the field, and 
many died on the spot. Then he returned thanks to God, 
and in his pride ordered his standard to be brought and set 
up on high where the English standard had stood ; and that 
was the signal of his having conquered and beaten down the 
foe. And he ordered his tent to be raised on the spot among 
the dead, and had his meat brought thither, and his supper 
prepared there. 

" Then he took off his armor ; and the barons and knights, 
pages and squires, came when he had unstrung his shield ; 
and they took the helmet from his head, and the hauberk 
from his back, and saw the heavy blows upon his shield, and 
how his helmet was dinted in. And all greatly wondered, 
and said, 'Such a baron never bestrode war-horse, or dealt 
such blows, or did such feats of arms ; neither has there 
been on earth such a knight since Rollant and Olivier.' 

"Thus they lauded and extolled him greatly, and rejoiced 
in what they saw; but grieving also for their friends who 
were slain in the battle. And the duke stood meanwhile 
among them of noble stature and mien ; and rendered thanks 
to the King of Glory, through whom he had the victory ; and 
thanked the knights around him, mourning also frequently 
for the dead. And he ate and drank among the dead, and 
made his bed that night upon the field. 

"The morrow was Sunday; and those who had slept upon 
the field of battle, keeping watch around, and suffering great 
fatigue, bestirred themselves at break of day, and sought out 
and buried such of the bodies of their dead friends as they 
might find. The noble ladies of the land also came, some to 



io66] BATTLE OF HASTINGS 21 3 

seek their husbands, and others their fathers, sons, or brothers. 
They bore the bodies to their villages, and interred them at 
the churches ; and the clerks and priests of the country were 
ready, and at the request of their friends took the bodies that 
were found and prepared graves and laid them therein. 

" King Harold was carried and buried at Varham ; but I 
know not who it was that bore him thither, neither do I know 
who buried him. Many remained on the field, and many had 
fled in the night." 

Such is a Norman account of the battle of Hastings, which 
does full justice to the valor of the Saxons, as well as to the 
skill and bravery of the victors. It is indeed evident that 
the loss of the battle to the English was owing to the wound 
which Harold received in the afternoon, and which must 
have incapacitated him from effective command. When we 
remember that he had himself just won the battle of Stam- 
ford Bridge over Harald Hardrada by the maneuver of a 
feigned flight, it is impossible to suppose that he could be 
deceived by the same stratagem on the part of the Normans 
at Hastings. But his men, when deprived of his control, 
would very naturally be led by their inconsiderate ardor into 
the pursuit that proved so fatal to them. All the narratives 
of the battle, however much they may vary as to the precise 
time and manner of Harold's fall, eulogize the generalship 
and the personal prowess which he displayed until the fatal 
arrow struck him. The skill with which he had posted his 
army was proved, both by the slaughter which it cost the 
Normans to force the position, and also by the desperate 
rally which some of the Saxons made, after the battle, in the 
forest in the rear, in which they cut off a large number of 
the pursuing Normans. This circumstance is particularly 
mentioned by William of Poitiers, the Conqueror's own chap- 
lain. Indeed, if Harold, or either of his brothers, had sur- 
vived, the remains of the English army might have formed 
again in the wood, and could at least have effected an orderly 
retreat, and prolonged the war. But both Gurth and Leof- 
wine, and all the bravest thanes of Southern England, lay 
dead on Senlac, around their fallen king and the fallen stand- 
ard of their country. The exact number of the slain on the 
Saxon side is unknown ; but we read that on the side of the 



214 DECISIVE BATTLES [1066 

victors, out of sixty thousand men who had been engaged, 
no less than a fourth perished ; so well had the English bill- 
men " plied the ghastly blow," and so sternly had the Saxon 
battle-ax cloven Norman casque and mail.^ The old histo- 
rian Daniel justly as well as forcibly remarks, "Thus was 
tried, by the great assize of God's judgment in battle, the 
right of power between the English and Norman nations ; a 
battle the most memorable of all others, and, however misera- 
bly lost, yet most nobly fought on the part of England." 

Many a pathetic legend was told in after-years respecting 
the discovery and the burial of the corpse of our last Saxon 
king. The main circumstances, though they seem to vary, 
are perhaps reconcilable.^ Two of the monks of Waltham 
Abbey, which Harold had founded a little time before his 
election to the throne, had accompanied him to the battle. 
On the morning after the slaughter they begged and gained 
permission of the Conqueror to search for the body of their 
benefactor. The Norman soldiery and camp-followers had 
stripped and gashed the slain ; and the two monks vainly 
strove to recognize from among the mutilated and gory heaps 
around them the features of their former king. They sent 
for Harold's mistress, Edith, surnamed "the Fair" and the 
" Swan-necked," to aid them. The eye of love proved keener 
than the eye of gratitude, and the Saxon lady, even in that 
Aceldama, knew her Harold. 

The king's mother now sought the victorious Norman, and 
begged the dead body of her son. But William at first 
answered in his wrath, and in the hardness of his heart, 
that a man who had been false to his word and his religion 
should have no other sepulcher than the sand of the shore. 
He added, with a sneer, " Harold mounted guard on the coast 
while he was alive ; he may continue his guard now he is 
dead." The taunt was an unintentional eulogy; and a grave 
washed by the spray of the Sussex waves would have been 
the noblest burial-place for the martyr of Saxon freedom. 
But Harold's mother was urgent in her lamentations and her 
prayers ; the Conqueror relented ; like Achilles, he gave up 
the dead body of his fallen foe to a parent's supplications ; 
and the remains of King Harold were deposited with regal 
honors in Waltham Abbey. 



io66] BATTLE OF HASTINGS 215 

On Christmas day of the same year, WilUam the Con- 
queror was crowned at London king of England. 

Notes 

^ The Conqueror's chaplain calls the Saxon battle-axes " saevissimas 
secures." 

2 See them collected in Lingard, vol. i., p. 452 et seq. ; Thierry, vol. i., 
p. 299; Sharon Turner, vol. i., p. 82; and "Histoire de Normandie" par 
Lieguet, p. 242. 

Synopsis of Events between the Battle of Hastings, 
1066, and Joan of Arc's Victory at Orleans, 1429 

1066 to 1087. Reign of William the Conqueror. Frequent 
risings of the English against him, which are quelled with 
merciless rigor. 

1096. The first crusade. 

II 12. Commencement of the disputes about investitures 
between the emperors and the popes. 

1 140. Foundation of the city of Liibeck, whence originated 
the Hanseatic League. Commencement of the feuds in Italy 
between the Guelphs and Ghibellines. 

1 146. The second crusade. 

II 54. Henry H. becomes king of England. Under him 
Thomas a Becket is made Archbishop of Canterbury : the 
first instance of any man of the Saxon race being raised to 
high office in Church or State since the Conquest. 

1 170. Strongbow, Earl of Pembroke, lands with an Enghsh 
army in Ireland. 

II 89. Richard Coeur de Lion becomes king of England. 
He and King Philip Augustus of France join in the third 
crusade. 

1 199 to 1204. On the death of King Richard, his brother 
John claims and makes himself master of England and Nor- 
mandy and the other large Continental possessions of the 
early Plantagenet princes. Philip Augustus asserts the cause 
of Prince Arthur, John's nephew, against him. Arthur is 
murdered, but the French king continues the war against 
John, and conquers from him Normandy, Brittany, Anjou, 
Maine, Touraine, and Poitiers. 

121 5. The barons, the freeholders, the citizens, and the 



2l6 DECISIVE BATTLES [1066 

yeomen of England rise against the tyranny of John and his 
foreign favorites. They compel him to sign Magna Charta. 
This is the commencement of our nationality ; for our history 
from this time forth is the history of a national life, then 
complete, and still in being. All English history before this 
period is a mere history of elements, of their collisions, and 
of the processes of their fusion. For upward of a century 
after the Conquest, Anglo-Norman and Anglo-Saxon had 
kept aloof from each other : the one in haughty scorn, the 
other in sullen abhorrence. They were two peoples, though 
living in the same land. It is not until the thirteenth cen- 
tury, the period of the reigns of John and his son and grand- 
son, that we can perceive the existence of any feeling of 
common patriotism among them. But in studying the his- 
tory of these reigns, we read of the old dissensions no longer. 
The Saxon no more appears in civil war against the Norman ; 
the Norman no longer scorns the language of the Saxon, or 
refuses to bear together with him the name of Englishman. 
No part of the community think themselves foreigners to 
another part. They feel that they are all one people, and 
they have learned to unite their efforts for the common pur- 
pose of protecting the rights and promoting the welfare of 
all. The fortunate loss of the Duchy of Normandy in John's 
reign greatly promoted these new feelings. Thenceforth our 
barons' only homes were in England. One language had, 
in the reign of Henry III., become the language of the land; 
and that, also, had then assumed the form in which we still 
possess it. One law, in the eye of which all freemen are 
equal without distinction of race, was modeled, and steadily 
enforced, and still continues to form the groundwork of our 
judicial system. 

1273. Rudolph of Hapsburg chosen emperor of Germany. 

1283. Edward I. conquers Wales. 

1346. Edward III. invades France, and gains the battle of 
Cressy. 

1356. Battle of Poitiers. 

1360. Treaty of Bretigny between England and France. 
By it Edward III. renounces his pretensions to the French 
crown. The treaty is ill kept, and indecisive hostilities con- 
tinue between the forces of the two countries. 



io66] BATTLE OF HASTINGS 217 

1414. Henry V. of England claims the crown of France, 
and resolves to invade and conquer that kingdom. At this 
time France was in the most deplorable state of weakness 
and suffering, from the factions that raged among her nobil- 
ity, and from the cruel oppressions which the rival nobles 
practised on the mass of the community. " The people were 
exhausted by taxes, civil wars, and military executions ; and 
they had fallen into that worst of all states of mind, when 
the independence of one's country is thought no longer a 
paramount and sacred object. ' What can the English do to 
us worse than the things we suffer at the hands of our own 
princes ? ' was a common exclamation among the poor people 
of France." 

141 5. Henry invades France, takes Harfleur, and wins the 
great battle of Agincourt. 

141 7 to 1419. Henry conquers Normandy. The French 
dauphin assassinates the Duke of Burgundy, the most power- 
ful of the French nobles, at Montereau. The successor of 
the murdered duke becomes the active ally of the English. 

1420. The Treaty of Troyes is concluded between Henry 
V. of England and Charles VI. of France, and Philip, Duke 
of Burgundy. By this treaty it was stipulated that Henry 
should marry the Princess Catherine of France ; that King 
Charles, during his lifetime, should keep the title and dignity 
of king of France, but that Henry should succeed him, and 
should at once be entrusted with the administration of the gov- 
ernment, and that the French crown should descend to Henry's 
heirs ; that France and England should forever be united 
under one king, but should still retain their several usages, 
customs, and privileges ; that all the princes, peers, vassals, 
and communities of France should swear allegiance to Henry 
as their future king, and should pay him present obedience 
as regent ; that Henry should unite his arms to those of King 
Charles and the Duke of Burgundy, in order to subdue the 
adherents of Charles, the pretended dauphin ; and that these 
three princes should make no truce or peace with the dauphin 
but by the common consent of all three. 

142 1. Henry V. gains several victories over the French, 
who refuse to acknowledge the Treaty of Troyes. His son, 
afterwards Henry VI., is born. 



2l8 DECISIVE BATTLES [1066 

1422. Henry V. and Charles VI. of France die. Henry 
VI. is proclaimed at Paris king of England and France. 
The followers of the French dauphin proclaim him Charles 
VII., king of France. The Duke of Bedford, the English 
regent in France, defeats the army of the dauphin at Crevant. 

1424. The Duke of Bedford gains the great victory of 
Verneuil, over the French partisans of the dauphin and their 
Scotch auxiliaries. 

1428. The English begin the siege of Orleans. 



1429] RELIEF OF ORLEANS 219 



CHAPTER IX 

Joa7i of Arc's Victory over the English at Orleans, 1429 

" The eyes of all Europe were turned towards this scene ; where, it was 
reasonably supposed, the French were to make their last stand for main- 
taining the independence of their monarchy and the rights of their sov- 
ereign." — Hume. 

WHEN, after their victory at Salamis, the generals of 
the various Greek states voted the prizes for dis- 
tinguished individual merit, each assigned the first 
place of excellence to himself, but they all concurred in giv- 
ing their second votes to Themistocles. This was looked on 
as a decisive proof that Themistocles ought to be ranked first 
of all. If we were to endeavor, by a similar test, to ascertain 
which European nation has contributed the most to the prog- 
ress of European civilization, we should find Italy, Germany, 
England, and Spain each claiming the first degree, but each 
also naming France as clearly next in merit. It is impossible 
to deny her paramount importance in history. Besides the 
formidable part that she has for nearly three centuries played, 
as the Bellona of the European commonwealth of states, her 
influence during all this period over the arts, the literature, 
the manners, and the feelings of mankind, has been such as 
to make the crisis of her earlier fortunes a point of world-wide 
interest ; and it may be asserted without exaggeration that 
the future career of every nation was involved in the result 
of the struggle by which the unconscious heroine of France, 
in the beginning of the fifteenth century, rescued her country 
from becoming a second Ireland under the yoke of the tri- 
umphant English. 

Seldom has the extinction of a nation's independence ap- 
peared more inevitable than was the case in France, when 
the English invaders completed their lines round Orleans, 
four hundred and twenty-three years ago. A series of dread- 



220 DECISIVE BATTLES [1429 

ful defeats had thinned the chivalry of France, and daunted 
the spirits of her soldiers. A foreign king had been pro- 
claimed in her capital ; and foreign armies of the bravest 
veterans, and led by the ablest captains then known in the 
world, occupied the fairest portions of her territory. Worse 
to her even than the fierceness and the strength of her foes 
were the factions, the vices, and the crimes of her own chil- 
dren. Her native prince was a dissolute trifler, stained with 
the assassination of the most powerful noble of the land, 
whose son, in revenge, had leagued himself with the enemy. 
Many more of her nobility, many of her prelates, her magis- 
trates, and rulers, had sworn fealty to the English king. The 
condition of the peasantry, amid the general prevalence of 
anarchy and brigandage which were added to the customary 
devastations of contending armies, was wretched beyond the 
power of language to describe. The sense of terror and 
suffering seemed to have extended itself even to the brute 
creation. 

" In sooth, the estate of France was then most miserable. 
There appeared nothing but a horrible face, confusion, pov- 
erty, desolation, solitarinesse, and feare. The lean and bare 
labourers in the country did terrific even theeves themselves, 
who had nothing left them to spoile but the carkasses of 
these poore miserable creatures, wandering up and down like 
ghosts drawne out of their graves. The least farmes and 
hamlets were fortified by these robbers, English, Bourgueg- 
nons, and French, every one striving to do his worst ; all men- 
of-war were well agreed to spoile the countryman and merchant. 
Even the cattell, accustomed to the larume bell, the signe of the 
enemy's approach, would run home of themselves without atiy 
guide, by this accustomed misery." [De Serres.] 

In the autumn of 1428, the English, who were already 
masters of all France north of the Loire, prepared their 
forces for the conquest of the southern provinces, which yet 
adhered to the cause of the dauphin. The city of Orleans, 
on the banks of that river, was looked upon as the last 
stronghold of the French national party. If the English 
could once obtain possession of it, their victorious progress 
through the residue of the kingdom seemed free from any 
serious obstacle. Accordingly, the Earl of Salisbury, one of 



1429] RELIEF OF ORLEANS 221 

the bravest and most experienced of the English generals, 
who had been trained under Henry V., marched to the attack 
of the all-important city ; and, after reducing several places of 
inferior consequence in the neighborhood, appeared with his 
army before its walls on the 12th of October, 1428. 

The city of Orleans itself was on the north side of the 
Loire, but its suburbs extended far on the southern side, and 
a strong bridge connected them with the town. A fortifica- 
tion, which in modern military phrase would be termed a 
tete-du-pont, defended the bridge-head on the southern side, 
and two towers, called the Tourelles, were built on the bridge 
itself, where it rested on an island at a little distance from 
the tete-du-pont. Indeed, the solid masonry of the bridge 
terminated at the Tourelles, and the communication thence 
with the tete-du-pont on the southern shore was by means of 
a drawbridge. The Tourelles and the tete-du-pont formed 
together a strong fortified post, capable of containing a gar- 
rison of considerable strength: and so long as this was in 
possession of the Orleannais, they could communicate freely 
with the southern provinces, the inhabitants of which, like the 
Orleannais themselves, supported the cause of their dauphin 
against the foreigners. Lord Salisbury rightly judged the 
capture of the Tourelles to be the most material step towards 
the reduction of the city itself. Accordingly he directed his 
principal operations against this post, and, after some very 
severe repulses, he carried the Tourelles by storm, on the 23d 
of October. The French, however, broke down the part of 
the bridge which was nearest to the north bank, and thus 
rendered a direct assault from the Tourelles upon the city 
impossible. But the possession of this post enabled the Eng- 
lish to distress the town greatly by a battery of cannon which 
they planted there, and which commanded some of the prin- 
cipal streets. 

It has been observed by Hume that this is the first siege 
in which any important use appears to have been made of 
artillery. And even at Orleans both besiegers and besieged 
seem to have employed their cannons more as instruments of 
destruction against their enemy's men, than as engines of 
demolition against their enemy's walls and works. The 
efficacy of cannon in breaching solid masonry was taught 



222 DECISIVE BATTLES [1429 

Europe by the Turks, a few years afterwards, at the memora- 
ble siege of Constantinople. In our French wars, as in the 
wars of the classic nations, famine was looked on as the 
surest weapon to compel the submission of a well-walled 
town ; and the great object of the besiegers was to effect a 
complete circumvallation. The great ambit of the walls of 
Orleans, and the facilities which the river gave for obtaining 
succor and supplies, rendered the capture of the place by 
this process a matter of great difficulty. Nevertheless, Lord 
Salisbury, and Lord Suffolk, who succeeded him in command 
of the English after his death by a cannon-ball, carried on 
the necessary works with great skill and resolution. Six 
strongly fortified posts, called bastilles, were formed at cer- 
tain intervals round the town; and the purpose of the English 
engineers was to draw strong lines between them. During 
the winter little progress was made with the entrenchments, 
but when the spring of 1429 came, the English resumed their 
works with activity ; the communications between the city 
and the country became more difficult, and the approach of 
want began already to be felt in Orleans. 

The besieging force also fared hardly for stores and provi- 
sions, until relieved by the effects of a brilliant victory which 
Sir John Fastolfe, one of the best English generals, gained at 
Rouvrai, near Orleans, a few days after Ash Wednesday, 1429. 
With only sixteen hundred fighting men. Sir John completely 
defeated an army of French and Scots, four thousand strong, 
which had been collected for the purpose of aiding the Or- 
leannais and harassing the besiegers. After this encounter, 
which seemed decisively to confirm the superiority of the 
English in battle over their adversaries, Fastolfe escorted large 
supplies of stores and food to Suffolk's camp, and the spirits 
of the English rose to the highest pitch at the prospect of the 
speedy capture of the city before them, and the consequent 
subjection of all France beneath their arms. 

The Orleannais now in their distress offered to surrender the 
city into the hands of the Duke of Burgundy, who, though 
the ally of the English, was yet one of their native princes. 
The Regent Bedford refused these terms, and the speedy 
submission of the city to the English seemed inevitable. The 
Dauphin Charles, who was now at Chinon with his remnant 



1429] RELIEF OF ORLEANS 223 

of a court, despaired of maintaining any longer the struggle 
for his crown ; and was only prevented from abandoning the 
country by the more masculine spirits of his mistress and his 
queen. Yet neither they, nor the boldest of Charles's captains, 
could have shown him where to find resources for prolonging 
the war ; and least of all could any human skill have predicted 
the quarter whence rescue was to come to Orleans and to 
France. 

In the village of Domrdmy, on the borders of Lorraine, 
there was a poor peasant of the name of Jacques d'Arc, re- 
spected in his station of life, and who had reared a family in 
virtuous habits and in the practise of the strictest devotion. 
His eldest daughter was named by her parents Jeannette, but 
she was called Jeanne by the French, which was Latinized 
into Johanna, and Anglicized into Joan. 

At the time when Joan first attracted attention she was 
about eighteen years of age. She was naturally of a suscep- 
tible disposition, which diligent attention to the legends of 
saints and tales of fairies, aided by the dreamy loneliness of 
her life while tending her father's flocks,^ had made peculiarly 
prone to enthusiastic fervor. At the same time she was em- 
inent for piety and purity of soul, and for her compassionate 
gentleness to the sick and the distressed. 

The district where she dwelt had escaped comparatively 
free from the ravages of war, but the approach of roving bands 
of Burgundian or English troops frequently spread terror 
through Domremy. Once the village had been plundered by 
some of these marauders, and Joan and her family had been 
driven from their home, and forced to seek refuge for a time 
at Neufchateau. The peasantry in Domremy were principally 
attached to the House of Orleans and the dauphin ; and all 
the miseries which France endured were there imputed to the 
Burgundian faction and their allies, the English, who were 
seeking to enslave unhappy France. 

Thus from infancy to girlhood Joan had heard continually 
of the woes of the war, and she had herself witnessed some 
of the wretchedness that it caused. A feeling of intense 
patriotism grew in her with her growth. The deliverance of 
France from the English was the subject of her reveries by 
day and her dreams by night. Blended with these aspira- 



224 DECISIVE BATTLES [1429 

tions were recollections of the miraculous interpositions of 
Heaven in favor of the oppressed, which she had learned 
from the legends of her church. Her faith was undoubting ; 
her prayers were fervent. " She feared no danger, for she 
felt no sin " ; and at length she believed herself to have 
received the supernatural inspiration which she sought. 

According to her own narrative, delivered by her to her 
merciless inquisitors in the time of her captivity and approach- 
ing death, she was about thirteen years old when her revela- 
tions commenced. Her own words describe them best : " At 
the age of thirteen, a voice from God came near to her to 
help her in ruling herself, and that voice came to her about 
the hour of noon, in summer-time, while she was in her father's 
garden. And she had fasted the day before. And she heard 
the voice on her right, in the direction of the church ; and 
when she heard the voice she also saw a bright light. After- 
wards, St. Michael and St. Margaret and St. Catherine 
appeared to her. They were always in a halo of glory ; she 
could see that their heads were crowned with jewels ; and she 
heard their voices, which were sweet and mild. She did not 
distinguish their arms or limbs. She heard them more fre- 
quently than she saw them ; and the usual time when she 
heard them was when the church bells were sounding for 
prayer. And if she was in the woods when she heard them, 
she could plainly distinguish their voices drawing near to her. 
When she thought that she discerned the heavenly voices, 
she knelt down, and bowed herself to the ground. Their 
presence gladdened her even to tears ; and after they departed 
she wept because they had not taken her with them back to 
Paradise. They always spoke soothingly to her. They told 
her that France would be saved, and that she was to save it." 
Such were the visions and the voices that moved the spirit of 
the girl of thirteen ; and as she grew older they became more 
frequent and more clear. At last the tidings of the siege of 
Orleans reached Domremy. Joan heard her parents and 
neighbors talk of the sufferings of its population, of the ruin 
which its capture would bring on their lawful sovereign, and 
of the distress of the dauphin and his court. Joan's heart 
was sorely troubled at the thought of the fate of Orleans ; 
and her voices now ordered her to leave her home, and 



1429] RELIEF OF ORLEANS 225 

warned her that she was the instrument chosen by Heaven 
for driving away the Enghsh from that city, and for taking 
the dauphin to be anointed king at Rheims. At length she 
informed her parents of her divine mission, and told them 
that she must go to the Sire de Baudricourt, who commanded 
at Vaucouleurs, and who was the appointed person to bring 
her into the presence of the king, whom she was to save. 
Neither the anger nor the grief of her parents, who said that 
they would rather see her drowned than exposed to the con- 
tamination of the camp, could move her from her purpose. 
One of her uncles consented to take her to Vaucouleurs, where 
De Baudricourt at first thought her mad, and derided her ; 
but by degrees was led to believe, if not in her inspiration, at 
least in her enthusiasm and in its possible utility to the 
dauphin's cause. 

The inhabitants of Vaucouleurs were completely won over 
to her side by the piety and devoutness which she displayed, 
and by her firm assurance in the truth of her mission. She 
told them that it was God's will that she should go to the 
king, and that no one but her could save the kingdom of 
France. She said that she herself would rather remain with 
her poor mother and spin; but the Lord had ordered her 
forth. The fame of "The Maid," as she was termed, the 
renown of her holiness and of her mission, spread far and 
wide. Baudricourt sent her with an escort to Chinon, where 
the Dauphin Charles was dallying away his time. Her voices 
had bidden her assume the arms and the apparel of a knight; 
and the wealthiest inhabitants of Vaucouleurs had vied with 
each other in equipping her with war-horse, armor, and sword. 
On reaching Chinon, she was, after some delay, admitted into 
the presence of the dauphin. Charles designedly dressed 
himself far less richly than many of his courtiers were 
apparelled, and mingled with them, when Joan was intro- 
duced, in order to see if the Holy Maid would address her 
exhortations to the wrong person. But she instantly singled 
him out, and, kneeling before him, said, " Most noble dauphin, 
the King of Heaven announces to you by me that you shall 
be anointed and crowned king in the city of Rheims, and that 
you shall be his vicegerent in France." His features may 
probably have been seen by her previously in portraits, or 



226 DECISIVE BATTLES [1429 

have been described to her by others ; but she herself beHeved 
that her voices inspired her when she addressed the king ; 
and the report soon spread abroad that the Holy Maid had 
found the king by a miracle ; and this, with many other 
similar rumors, augmented the renown and influence that she 
now rapidly acquired. 

The state of public feeling in France was now favorable to 
an enthusiastic belief in divine interposition in favor of the 
party that had hitherto been unsuccessful and oppressed. 
The humiliations which had befallen the French royal family 
and nobility were looked on as the just judgments of God 
upon them for their vice and impiety. The misfortunes that 
had come upon France as a nation were believed to have been 
drawn down by national sins. The English, who had been 
the instruments of Heaven's wrath against France, seemed 
now by their pride and cruelty to be fitting objects of it them- 
selves. France in that age was a profoundly religious country. 
There was ignorance, there was superstition, there was bigotry ; 
but there was faith — a faith that itself worked true miracles, 
even while it believed in unreal ones. At this time, also, one 
of those devotional movements began among the clergy in 
France which from time to time occur in national churches 
without it being possible for the historian to assign any ade- 
quate human cause for their immediate date or extension. 
Numberless friars and priests traversed the rural districts and 
towns of France, preaching to the people that they must seek 
from Heaven a deliverance from the pillages of the soldiery 
and the insolence of the foreign oppressors. The idea of a 
Providence that works only by general laws was wholly alien 
to the feelings of the age. Every political event, as well as 
every natural phenomenon, was believed to be the immediate 
result of a special mandate of God. This led to the belief 
that his holy angels and saints were constantly employed in 
executing his commands and mingling in the affairs of men. 
The church encouraged these feelings, and at the same time 
sanctioned the concurrent popular belief that hosts of evil 
spirits were also ever actively interposing in the current of 
earthly events, with whom sorcerers and wizards could league 
themselves and thereby obtain the exercise of supernatural 
power. 



JOAN OF ARC LISTENING TO THE VOICES. 

Photogravure from a painting by Wagrez. 



1429] RELIEF OF ORLEANS 22/ 

Thus all things favored the influence which Joan obtained 
both over friends and foes. The French nation, as well as 
the English and the Burgundians, readily admitted that super- 
human beings inspired her : the only question was, whether 
these beings were good or evil angels ; whether she brought 
with her " airs from heaven, or blasts from hell." This ques- 
tion seemed to her countrymen to be decisively settled in her 
favor by the austere sanctity of her life, by the holiness of 
her conversation, but, still more, by her exemplary attention 
to all the services and rites of the church. The dauphin at 
first feared the injury that might be done to his cause if he 
had laid himself open to the charge of having leagued him- 
self with a sorceress. Every imaginable test, therefore, was 
resorted to in order to set Joan's orthodoxy and purity beyond 
suspicion. At last Charles and his advisers felt safe in accept- 
ing her services as those of a true and virtuous daughter of 
the Holy Church. 

It is indeed probable that Charles himself, and some of his 
counselors, may have suspected Joan of being a mere enthu- 
siast ; and it is certain that Dunois, and others of the best 
generals, took considerable latitude in obeying or deviating 
from the military orders that she gave. But over the mass 
of the people and the soldiery, her influence was unbounded. 
While Charles and his doctors of theology and court ladies 
had been deliberating as to recognizing or dismissing the 
Maid, a considerable period had passed away, during which a 
small army, the last gleanings, as it seemed, of the English 
sword, had been assembled at Blois, under Dunois, La Hire, 
Xaintrailles, and other chiefs, who to their natural valor were 
now beginning to unite the wisdom that is taught by mis- 
fortune. It was resolved to send Joan with this force and a 
convoy of provisions to Orleans. The distress of that city 
had now become urgent. But the communication with the 
open country was not entirely cut off; the Orleannais had 
heard of the Holy Maid whom Providence had raised up for 
their deliverance, and their messengers urgently implored the 
dauphin to send her to them without delay. 

Joan appeared at the camp at Blois, clad in a new suit of 
brilliant white armor, mounted on a stately black war-horse, 
and with a lance in her right hand, which she had learned to 



228 DECISIVE BATTLES [1429 

wield with skill and grace. Her head was unhelmeted ; so 
that all could behold her fair and expressive features, her 
deep-set and earnest eyes, and her long black hair, which was 
parted across her forehead and bound by a ribbon behind her 
back. She wore at her side a small battle-ax, and the con- 
secrated sword, marked on the blade with five crosses, which 
had at her bidding been taken for her from the shrine of St. 
Catherine at Fierbois. A page carried her banner, which she 
had caused to be made and embroidered as her voices enjoined. 
It was white satin, strewn with fleur-de-lis ; and on it were the 
words " Jhesus Maria," and the representation of the Saviour 
in his glory. Joan afterwards generally bore her banner her- 
self in battle; she said that though she loved her sword 
much, she loved her banner forty times as much ; and she 
loved to carry it because it could not kill any one. 

Thus accoutered, she came to lead the troops of France, who 
looked with soldierly admiration on her well-proportioned and 
upright figure, the skill with which she managed her war-horse, 
and the easy grace with which she handled her weapons. 
Her military education had been short, but she had availed 
herself of it well. She had also the good sense to interfere 
little with the maneuvers of the troops, leaving those things 
to Dunois and others whom she had the discernment to recog- 
nize as the best officers in the camp. Her tactics in action 
were simple enough. As she herself described it, " I used to 
say to them, ' Go boldly in among the English,' and then I 
used to go boldly in myself." Such, as she told her inquisi- 
tors, was the only spell she used ; and it was one of power. 
But while interfering little with the military discipline of the 
troops, in all matters of moral discipline she was inflexibly 
strict. All the abandoned followers of the camp were driven 
away. She compelled both generals and soldiers to attend 
regularly at confessional. Her chaplain and other priests 
marched with the army under her orders ; and at every halt 
an altar was set up and the sacrament administered. No oath 
or foul language passed without punishment or censure. 
Even the roughest and most hardened veterans obeyed her. 
They put off for a time the bestial coarseness which had 
grown on them during a life of bloodshed and rapine ; they 
felt that they must go forth in a new spirit to a new career, 



1429] RELIEF OF ORLEANS 229 

and acknowledged the beauty of the holiness in which the 
heaven-sent Maid was leading them to certain victory, 

Joan marched from Blois on the 25th of April with a convoy 
of provisions for Orleans, accompanied by Dunois, La Hire, 
and the other chief captains of the French ; and on the even- 
ing of the 28th they approached the town. In the words of 
the old chronicler Hall : " The Englishmen, perceiving that 
they within could not long continue for faute of vitaile and 
pouder, kepte not their watche so diligently as thei were 
accustomed, nor scoured now the countrey environed as thei 
before had ordained. Whiche negligence the citizens shut in 
perceiving, sente worde thereof to the French captaines, which 
with Pucelle in the dedde tyme of the nighte, and in a greate 
rayne and thundere, with all their vitaile and artillery entered 
into the citie." 

When it was day, the Maid rode in solemn procession 
through the city, clad in complete armor, and mounted on a 
white horse. Dunois was by her side, and all the bravest 
knights of her army and of the garrison followed in her train. 
The whole population thronged around her ; and men, women, 
and children strove to touch her garments or her banner or 
her charger. They poured forth blessings on her whom they 
already considered their deliverer. In the words used by two 
of them afterwards before the tribunal which reversed the 
sentence, but could not restore the life, of the Virgin-martyr 
of France, " the people of Orleans, when they first saw her in 
their city, thought that it was an angel from heaven that had 
come down to save them." Joan spoke gently in reply to 
their acclamations and addresses. She told them to fear God, 
and trust in him for safety from the fury of their enemies. 
She first went to the principal church, where Te Deum was 
chanted ; and then she took up her abode in the house of 
Jacques Bourgier, one of the principal citizens, and whose 
wife was a matron of good repute. She refused to attend a 
splendid banquet which had been provided for her, and passed 
nearly all her time in prayer. 

When it was known by the English that the Maid was in 
Orleans, their minds were not less occupied about her than 
were the minds of those in the city ; but it was in a very 
different spirit. The English believed in her supernatural 



230 DECISIVE BATTLES [1429 

mission as firmly as the French did ; but they thought her a 
sorceress who had come to overthrow them by her enchant- 
ments. An old prophecy, which told that a damsel from 
Lorraine was to save France, had long been current ; and it 
was known and applied to Joan by foreigners as well as by 
the natives. For months the English had heard of the com- 
ing Maid ; and the tales of miracles which she was said to 
have wrought had been listened to by the rough yeomen of 
the English camp with anxious curiosity and secret awe. She 
had sent a herald to the English generals before she marched 
for Orleans ; and he had summoned the English generals in 
the name of the Most High to give up to the Maid who was 
sent by Heaven the keys of the French cities which they had 
wrongfully taken ; and he also solemnly adjured the English 
troops, whether archers, or men of the companies of war, or 
gentlemen, or others, who were before the city of Orleans, 
to depart thence to their homes, under peril of being visited 
by the judgment of God. On her arrival in Orleans, Joan 
sent another similar message ; but the English scoffed at her 
from their towers, and threatened to burn her heralds. She 
determined before she shed the blood of the besiegers, to 
repeat the warning with her own voice ; and accordingly she 
mounted one of the boulevards of the town, which was within 
hearing of the Tourelles ; and thence she spoke to the Eng- 
lish, and bade them depart, otherwise they would meet with 
shame and woe. Sir William Gladsdale (whom the French 
call Glacidas) commanded the English post at the Tourelles, 
and he and another English officer replied by bidding her go 
home and keep her cows, and by ribald jests, that brought 
tears of shame and indignation into her eyes. But though 
the English leaders vaunted aloud, the effect produced on 
their army by Joan's presence in Orleans was proved four days 
after her arrival ; when, on the approach of reenforcements 
and stores to the town, Joan and La Hire marched out to 
meet them, and escorted the long train of provision wagons 
safely into Orleans, between the bastilles of the English, who 
cowered behind their walls, instead of charging fiercely and 
fearlessly, as had been their wont, on any French band that 
dared to show itself within reach. 

Thus far she had prevailed without striking a blow ; but 



1429] RELIEF OF ORLEANS 23 1 

the time was now come to test her courage amid the horrors 
of actual slaughter. On the afternoon of the day on which 
she had escorted the reenforcements into the city, while she 
was resting fatigued at home, Dunois had seized an advan- 
tageous opportunity of attacking the EngHsh bastille of St. 
Loup ; and a fierce assault of the Orleannais had been made 
on it, which the English garrison of the fort stubbornly re- 
sisted. Joan was roused by a sound which she believed to 
be that of her heavenly voices ; she called for her arms and 
horse, and, quickly equipping herself, she mounted to ride off 
to where the fight was raging. In her haste she had forgotten 
her banner ; she rode back, and, without dismounting, had it 
given to her from the window, and then she galloped to the 
gate, whence the sally had been made. On her way she met 
some of the wounded French who had been carried back from 
the fight. "Ha," she exclaimed, "I never can see French 
blood flow without my hair standing on end." She rode out 
of the gate and met the tide of her countrymen, who had 
been repulsed from the English fort and were flying back to 
Orleans in confusion. At the sight of the Holy Maid and 
her banner they rallied, and renewed the assault. Joan rode 
forward at their head, waving her banner and cheering them 
on. The English quailed at what they believed to be the 
charge of hell ; St. Loup was stormed, and its defenders put 
to the sword, except some few, whom Joan succeeded in sav- 
ing. All her woman's gentleness returned when the combat 
was over. It was the first time that she had ever seen a 
battle-field. She wept at the sight of so many blood-stained 
and mangled corpses; and her tears flowed doubly when she 
reflected that they were the bodies of Christian men who had 
died without confession. 

The next day was Ascension day, and it was passed by 
Joan in prayer. But on the following morrow it was resolved 
by the chiefs of the garrison to attack the English forts on 
the south of the river. For this purpose they crossed the 
river in boats, and after some severe fighting, in which the 
Maid was wounded in the heel, both the English bastilles of 
the Augustins and St. Jean de Blanc were captured. The 
Tourelles were now the only post which the besiegers held 
on the south of the river. But that post was formidably 



232 DECISIVE BATTLES [1429 

strong, and by its command of the bridge it was the key to 
the deliverance of Orleans. It was known that a fresh Eng- 
lish army was approaching under Falstolfe to reenforce the 
besiegers, and should that army arrive while the Tourelles 
were yet in the possession of their comrades, there was great 
peril of all the advantages which the French had gained be- 
ing nullified, and of the siege being again actively carried on. 

It was resolved, therefore, by the French, to assail the Tou- 
relles at once, while the enthusiasm which the presence and 
the heroic valor of the Maid had created was at its height. 
But the enterprise was difficult. The rampart of the tete-du- 
pont, or landward bulwark, of the Tourelles was steep and 
high ; and Sir John Gladsdale occupied this all-important fort 
with five hundred archers and men-at-arms who were the very 
flower of the English army. 

Early in the morning of the 7th of May, some thousands of 
the best French troops in Orleans heard mass and attended 
the confessional by Joan's orders ; and then, crossing the 
river in boats, as on the preceding day, they assailed the bul- 
wark of the Tourelles, " with light hearts and heavy hands." 
But Gladsdale's men, encouraged by their bold and skilful 
leader, made a resolute and able defense. The Maid planted 
her banner on the edge of the fosse, and then, springing down 
into the ditch, she placed the first ladder against the wall, and 
began to mount. An English archer sent an arrow at her, 
which pierced her corselet and wounded her severely between 
the neck and shoulder. She fell bleeding from the ladder ; 
and the English were leaping down from the wall to capture 
her, but her followers bore her off. She was carried to the 
rear, and laid upon the grass ; her armor was taken off, and 
the anguish of her wound and the sight of her blood made her 
at first tremble and weep. But her confidence in her celes- 
tial mission soon returned ; her patron saints seemed to stand 
before her and reassure her. She sat up and drew the arrow 
out with her own hands. Some of the soldiers who stood 
by wished to stanch the blood, by saying a charm over the 
wound; but she forbade them, saying that she did not wish 
to be cured by unhallowed means. She had the wound 
dressed with a little oil, and then, bidding her confessor 
come to her, she betook herself to prayer. 



1429] RELIEF OF ORLEANS 233 

In the mean while, the English in the bulwark of the Tou- 
relles had repulsed the oft-renewed efforts of the French to 
scale the wall. Dunois, who commanded the assailants, was 
at last discouraged, and gave orders for a retreat to be sounded. 
Joan sent for him and the other generals, and implored them 
not to despair. " * By my God,' she said to them, 'you shall 
soon enter in there. Do not doubt it. When you see my ban- 
ner wave again up to the wall, to your arms again ! the fort is 
yours. For the present rest a little, and take some food and 
drink.' They did so," says the old chronicler of the siege, " for 
they obeyed her marvelously." The faintness caused by her 
wound had now passed off, and she headed the French in 
another rush against the bulwark. The English, who had 
thought her slain, were alarmed at her reappearance, while 
the French pressed furiously and fanatically forward. A Bis- 
cayan soldier was carrying Joan's banner. She had told the 
troops that directly the banner touched the wall they should 
enter. The Biscayan waved the banner forward from the edge 
of the fosse, and touched the wall with it ; and then all the 
French host swarmed madly up the ladders that now were 
raised in all directions against the English fort. At this crisis, 
the efforts of the English garrison were distracted by an attack 
from another quarter. The French troops who had been left 
in Orleans had placed some planks over the broken part of the 
bridge, and advanced across them to the assault of the Tou- 
relles on the northern side. Gladsdale resolved to withdraw 
his men from the landward bulwark, and concentrate his whole 
force in the Tourelles themselves. He was passing for this 
purpose across the drawbridge that connected the Tourelles 
and the tete-du-pont, when Joan, who by this time had scaled 
the wall of the bulwark, called out to him, " Surrender, sur- 
render to the King of Heaven. Ah, Glacidas, you have foully 
wronged me with your words, but I have great pity on your 
soul and the souls of your men." The Englishman, disdain- 
ful of her summons, was striding on across the drawbridge, 
when a cannon-shot from the town carried it away, and Glads- 
dale perished in the water that ran beneath. After his fall, 
the remnant of the English abandoned all further resistance. 
Three hundred of them had been killed in the battle, and two 
hundred were made prisoners. 



234 DECISIVE BATTLES [1429 

The broken arch was speedily repaired by the exulting 
Orleannais ; and Joan made her triumphal reentry into the 
city by the bridge that had so long been closed. Every 
church in Orleans rang out its gratulating peal ; and through- 
out the night the sounds of rejoicing echoed, and the bonfires 
blazed up from the city. But in the lines and forts which the 
besiegers yet retained on the northern shore, there was anx- 
ious watching of the generals, and there was despondirtg 
gloom among the soldiery. Even Talbot now counseled 
retreat. On the following morning, the Orleannais, from 
their walls, saw the great forts called " London " and " St. 
Lawrence," in flames, and witnessed their invaders busy in 
destroying the stores and munitions which had been relied on 
for the destruction of Orleans. Slowly and sullenly the Eng- 
lish army retired ; but not before it had drawn up in battle 
array opposite to the city, as if to challenge the garrison to 
an encounter. The French troops were eager to go out and 
attack, but Joan forbade it. The day was Sunday. " In the 
name of God," she said, " let them depart, and let us return 
thanks to God." She led the soldiers and citizens forth from 
Orleans, but not for the shedding of blood. They passed 
in solemn procession round the city walls; and then, while 
their retiring enemies were yet in sight, they knelt in thanks- 
giving to God for the deliverance which he had vouchsafed 
them. 

Within three months from the time of her first interview 
with the dauphin, Joan had fulfilled the first part of her 
promise, the raising of the siege of Orleans. Within three 
months more she fulfilled the second part also ; and she 
stood with her banner in her hand by the high altar at Rheims 
while he was anointed and crowned as King Charles VIL of 
France. In the interval she had taken Jargeau, Troyes, and 
other strong places ; and she had defeated an English army 
in a fair field at Patay. The enthusiasm of her countrymen 
knew no bounds ; but the importance of her services, and 
especially of her primary achievement at Orleans, may per- 
haps be best proved by the testimony of her enemies. There 
is extant a fragment of a letter from the Regent Bedford to 
his royal nephew, Henry VI., in which he bewails the turn 
that the war had taken, and especially attributes it to the 



1429] RELIEF OF ORLEANS 235 

raising of the siege of Orleans by Joan. Bedford's own 
words, which are preserved in Rymer, are as follows : — 

"■ And alle thing there prospered for you til the tynie of the 
Siege of Orleans, take7i in hand, God hioweth by what advis. 

''At the zvhiche tyme, after the adventure fallen to the per- 
sone of my cousin of Salisbury, whom God assoille, there f el le, 
by the hand of God as it seemeth, a great strook upon your 
peuple that was assembled there in grete nombre, caused in 
grete partie, as y troiue, of lakke of sadde beleve, and of unleve- 
fulle doubt e, that thei hadde of a disciple and lyme of the Feende, 
called the Pucelle, that usedfals enchantments and sorcerie. 

" The whiche strooke and discomfiture not oonly lessed in 
grete partie the nombre of your peuple there, but as well with- 
drewe the courage of the remenant in merveillous wyse, and 
couraiged your adverse partie atid ennemys to assemble them 
fortJnuith in grete nombre T 

When Charles had been anointed king of France, Joan 
believed that her mission was accomplished. And in truth 
the deliverance of France from the English, though not com- 
pleted for many years afterwards, was then insured. The 
ceremony of a royal coronation and anointment was not in 
those days regarded as a mere costly formality. It was 
believed to confer the sanction and the grace of Heaven upon 
the prince, who had previously ruled with mere human author- 
ity. Thenceforth he was the Lord's Anointed. Moreover, 
one of the difficulties that had previously lain in the way of 
many Frenchmen when called on to support Charles VII. 
was now removed. He had been publicly stigmatized, even 
by his own parents, as no true son of the royal race of France. 
The queen mother, the English, and the partisans of Burgundy 
called him the " Pretender to the title of Dauphin " ; but those 
who had been led to doubt his legitimacy were cured of their 
skepticism by the victories of the Holy Maid, and by the ful- 
filment of her pledges. They thought that Heaven had now 
declared itself in favor of Charles as the true heir of the crown 
of St. Louis; and the tales about his being spurious were 
thenceforth regarded as mere English calumnies. With this 
strong tide of national feeling in his favor, with victorious 
generals and soldiers round him, and a dispirited and divided 
enemy before him, he could not fail to conquer ; though his 



236 DECISIVE BATTLES [1429 

own imprudence and misconduct, and the stubborn valor 
which some of the English still displayed, prolonged the war 
in France nearly to the time when the civil war of the Roses 
broke out in England, and insured for France peace and 
repose. 

Joan knelt before the new-crowned king in the cathedral of 
Rheims, and shed tears of joy. She said that she had then 
fulfilled the work which the Lord had commanded her. The 
young girl now asked for her dismissal. She wished to return 
to her peasant home, to tend her parent's flocks again, and to 
live at her own will in her native village. She had always 
believed that her career would be a short one. But Charles 
and his captains were loath to lose the presence of one who 
had such an influence upon the soldiery and the people. They 
persuaded her to stay with the army. She still showed the 
same bravery and zeal for the cause of France. She was 
as fervent as before in her prayers, and as exemplary in all 
religious duties. She still heard her heavenly voices, but she 
now no longer thought herself the appointed minister of 
Heaven to lead her countrymen to certain victory. Our 
admiration for her courage and patriotism ought to be 
increased a hundred-fold by her conduct throughout the lat- 
ter part of her career, amid dangers against which she no 
longer believed herself to be divinely secured. Indeed, she 
believed herself doomed to perish in a little more than a year ; 
but she still fought on as resolutely, if not as exultingly, as 
ever. 

As in the case of Arminius, the interest attached to indi- 
vidual heroism and virtue makes us trace the fate of Joan of 
Arc after she had saved her country. She served well with 
Charles's army in the capture of Laon, Soissons, Compiegne, 
Beauvais, and other strong places ; but in a premature attack 
on Paris, in September, 1429, the French were repulsed and 
Joan was severely wounded. In the winter she was again in 
the field with some of the French troops ; and in the follow- 
ing spring she threw herself into the fortress of Compiegne, 
which she had herself won for the French king in the pre- 
ceding autumn, and which was now besieged by a strong 
Burgundian force. 

She was taken prisoner in a sally from Compiegne, on the 



1429] RELIEF OF ORLEANS 237 

24th of May, and was imprisoned by the Burgundians first at 
Arras, and then at a place called Crotoy, on the Flemish 
coast, until November, when for payment of a large sum of 
money she was given up to the English, and taken to Rouen, 
which was then their main stronghold in France. 

" Sorrow it were, and shame to tell, 
The butchery that there befell." 

And the revolting details of the cruelties practised upon this 
young girl may be left to those whose duty as avowed biogra- 
phers it is to describe them.^ She was tried before an eccle- 
siastical tribunal on the charge of witchcraft, and on the 30th 
of May, 143 1, she was burned alive in the market-place at 
Rouen. 

I will add but one remark on the character of the truest 
heroine that the world has ever seen. 

If any person can be found in the present age who would 
join in the scoffs of Voltaire against the Maid of Orleans and 
the heavenly voices by which she believed herself inspired, 
let him read the life of the wisest and best man that the 
heathen nations ever produced. Let him read of the heav- 
enly voice by which Socrates believed himself to be con- 
stantly attended ; which cautioned him on his way from the 
field of battle at Delium, and which from his boyhood to the 
time of his death visited him with unearthly warnings. Let 
the modern reader reflect upon this ; and then, unless he is 
prepared to term Socrates either fool or impostor, let him not 
dare to deride or vilify Joan of Arc. 

Notes 

1 Southey, in one of the speeches which he puts in the mouth of his 
Joan of Arc, has made her beautifully describe the effect on her mind of the 
scenery in which she dwelt : — 

" Here in solitude and peace 
My soul was nurst, amid the loveliest scenes 
Of unpolluted nature. Sweet it was, 
As the white mists of morning rolled away, 
To see the mountain's wooded heights appear 
Dark in the early dawn, and mark its slope 
With gorse-flowers glowing, as the rising sun 
On the golden ripeness poured a deepening light. 



238 DECISIVE BATTLES [1429 

Pleasant at noon beside the vocal brook 

To lay me down, and watch the floating clouds, 

And shape to Fancy's wild similitudes 

Their ever-varying forms ; and oh, how sweet, 

To drive my flock at evening to the fold, 

And hasten to our little hut, and hear 

The voice of kindness bid me welcome home ! " 

The only foundation for the story told by the Burgundian partisan Mon- 
strelet, and adopted by Hume, of Joan having been brought up as servant 
at an inn, is the circumstance of her having been once, with the rest of her 
family, obliged to take refuge in an auberge in Neufchateau for fifteen days, 
when a party of Burgundian cavalry made an incursion in Domrdmy. 

■^ The whole of the " Proces de Condamnation et de Rehabilitation de 
Jeanne d'Arc" has been pubhshed in five volumes by the Socidt^ de THis- 
toire de France. All the passages from contemporary chroniclers and poets 
are added ; and the most ample materials are thus given for acquiring full 
information on a subject which is, to an Englishman, one of painful interest. 

Synopsis of Events between Joan of Arc's Victory at 
Orleans, 1429, and the Defeat of the Spanish Ar- 
mada, 1588 

1452. Final expulsion of the English from France. 

1453. Constantinople taken, and the Roman empire of the 
East destroyed by the Turkish Sultan Mahomet II. 

1455. Commencement of the civil wars in England between 
the houses of York and Lancaster. 

1479. Union of the Christian kingdoms of Spain under 
Ferdinand and Isabella. 

1492. Capture of Granada by Ferdinand and Isabella, and 
end of the Moorish dominion in Spain. 

1492. Columbus discovers the New World. 

1494. Charles VIII. of France invades Italy. 

1497. Expedition of Vasco di Gama to the East Indies 
round the Cape of Good Hope. 

1503. Naples conquered from the French by the great 
Spanish general, Gonsalvo of Cordova. 

1 508. League of Cambray, by the pope, the emperor, and 
the king of France, against Venice. 

1509. Albuquerque establishes the empire of the Portu- 
guese in the East Indies. 

1 5 16. Death of Ferdinand of Spain; he is succeeded by 
his grandson Charles, afterwards the Emperor Charles V. 



1429] RELIEF OF ORLEANS 239 

1 5 17. Dispute between Luther and Tetzel respecting the 
sale of indulgences, which is the immediate cause of the Ref- 
ormation. 

1 5 19. Charles V. is elected emperor of Germany. 

1520. Cortez conquers Mexico. 

1525. Francis I. of France defeated and taken prisoner by 
the imperial army at Pavia. 

1529. League of Smalcald formed by the Protestant 
princes of Germany. 

1533. Henry VI IL renounces the papal supremacy. 

1533. Pizarro conquers Peru. 

1556. Abdication of the Emperor Charles V. Philip IL 
becomes king of Spain, and Ferdinand I. emperor of Ger- 
many. 

1557. Elizabeth becomes queen of England. 

1557. The Spaniards defeat the French at the battle of St. 
Quentin. 

1 571. Don John of Austria at the head of the Spanish 
fleet, aided by the Venetian and the papal squadrons, defeats 
the Turks at Lepanto. 

1572. Massacre of the Protestants in France on St. Bar- 
tholomew's day. 

1579. The Netherlands revolt against Spain. 

1580. Philip II. conquers Portugal. 



240 DECISIVE BATTLES [1588 



CHAPTER X 

The Defeat of the Spanish Armada, 1588 

" In that memorable year, when the dark cloud gathered round our 
coasts, when Europe stood by in fearful suspense to behold what should be 
the result of that great cast in the game of human politics, what the craft of 
Rome, the power of Philip, the genius of Farnese, could achieve against the 
island queen, with her Drakes and Cecils — in that agony of the Protestant 
faith and English name." — Hallam, Const. Hist., vol. i., p. 220. 

ON the afternoon of the 19th of July, 1588, a group of 
EngHsh captains was collected at the Bowling Green 
on the Hoe at Plymouth, whose equals have never 
before or since been brought together, even at that favorite 
mustering place of the heroes of the British navy. There was 
Sir Francis Drake, the first English circumnavigator of the 
globe, the terror of every Spanish coast in the Old World and 
the New; there was Sir John Hawkins, the rough veteran of 
many a daring voyage on the African and American seas, 
and of many a desperate battle ; there was Sir Martin Fro- 
bisher, one of the earliest explorers of the Arctic seas in search 
of that Northwest Passage which is still the darling object of 
England's boldest mariners. There was the high admiral of 
England, Lord Howard of Effingham, prodigal of all things 
in his country's cause, and who had recently had the noble 
daring to refuse to dismantle part of the fleet, though the 
queen had sent him orders to do so, in consequence of an 
exaggerated report that the enemy had been driven back and 
shattered by a storm. Lord Howard (whom contemporary 
writers describe as being of a wise and noble courage, skilful 
in sea matters, wary and provident, and of great esteem among 
the sailors) resolved to risk his sovereign's anger and to keep 
the ships afloat at his own charge, rather than that England 
should run the peril of losing their protection. 

Another of our Elizabethan sea-kings, Sir Walter Raleigh, 



1588] DEFEAT OF THE ARMADA 241 

was at that time commissioned to raise and equip the land- 
forces of Cornwall ; but, as he was also commander of 
Plymouth, we may well believe that he must have availed 
himself of the opportunity of consulting with the lord admiral 
and other high ofificers which was offered by the English 
fleet putting into that port ; and we may look on Raleigh as 
one of the group that was assembled at the Bowling Green 
on the Hoe. Many other brave men and skilful mariners, 
besides the chiefs whose names have been mentioned, were 
there, enjoying, with true sailor-like merriment, their tempo- 
rary relaxation from duty. In the harbor lay the English 
fleet with which they had just returned from a cruise to Co- 
runna in search of information respecting the real condition 
and movements of the hostile Armada. Lord Howard had 
ascertained that our enemies, though tempest-tossed, were 
still formidably strong ; and fearing that part of their fleet 
might make for England in his absence, he had hurried back 
to the Devonshire coast. He resumed his station at Plymouth, 
and waited there for certain tidings of the Spaniard's approach. 

A match at bowls was being played, in which Drake and 
other high officers of the fleet were engaged, when a small 
armed vessel was seen running before the wind into Plymouth 
harbor, with all sails set. Her commander landed in haste, 
and eagerly sought the place where the English lord admiral 
and his captains were standing. His name was Fleming ; he 
was the master of a Scotch privateer ; and he told the English 
officers that he had that morning seen the Spanish Armada 
off the Cornish coast. At this exciting information the cap- 
tains began to hurry down to the water, and there was a 
shouting for the ships' boats ; but Drake coolly checked his 
comrades, and insisted that the match should be played out. 
He said that there was plenty of time both to win the game 
and beat the Spaniards. The best and bravest match that 
ever was scored was resumed accordingly. Drake and his 
friends aimed their last bowls with the same steady, calculat- 
ing coolness with which they were about to point their guns. 
The winning cast was made ; and then they went on board 
and prepared for action, with their hearts as light and their 
nerves as firm as they had been on the Hoe Bowling Green. 

Meanwhile the messengers and signals had been despatched 



242 DECISIVE BATTLES [1588 

fast and far through England, to warn each town and village 
that the enemy had come at last. In every seaport there was 
instant making ready by land and by sea ; in every shire and 
every city there was instant mustering of horse and man. 
But England's best defense then, as ever, was her fleet ; and 
after warping laboriously out of Plymouth harbor against the 
wind, the lord admiral stood westward under easy sail, keep- 
ing an anxious lookout for the Armada, the approach of which 
was soon announced by Cornish fishing-boats and signals from 
the Cornish cliffs. 

The England of our own days is so strong, and the Spain 
of our own days is so feeble, that it is not possible, without 
some reflection and care, to comprehend the full extent of the 
peril which England then ran from the power and the ambi- 
tion of Spain, or to appreciate the importance of that crisis 
in the history of the world. We had then no Indian or colo- 
nial empire save the feeble germs of our North American 
settlements, which Raleigh and Gilbert had recently planted. 
Scotland was a separate kingdom ; and Ireland was then even 
a greater source of weakness, and a worse nest of rebellion, 
than she has been in after-times. Queen Elizabeth had found 
at her accession an encumbered revenue, a divided people, 
and an unsuccessful foreign war, in which the last remnant 
of our possessions in France had been lost ; she had also a 
formidable pretender to her crown, whose interests were 
favored by all the Roman Catholic powers ; and even some 
of her subjects were warped by religious bigotry to deny 
her title and to look on her as an heretical usurper. It is 
true that during the years of her reign which had passed away 
before the attempted invasion of 1588, she had revived the 
commercial prosperity, the national spirit, and the national 
loyalty of England. But her resources, to cope with the colos- 
sal power of Philip II., still seemed most scanty; and she 
had not a single foreign ally, except the Dutch, who were 
themselves struggling hard, and, as it seemed, hopelessly, to 
maintain their revolt against Spain. 

On the other hand, Philip II. was absolute master of an 
empire so superior to the other states of the world in extent, 
in resources, and especially in military and naval forces, as 
to make the project of enlarging that empire into a universal 



1588] DEFEAT OF THE ARMADA 243 

monarchy seem a perfectly feasible scheme ; and Philip had 
both the ambition to form that project and the resolution 
to devote all his energies and all his means to its realization. 
Since the downfall of the Roman empire no such preponder- 
ating power had existed in the world. During the medieval 
centuries the chief European kingdoms were slowly molding 
themselves out of the feudal chaos. And, though their wars 
with each other were numerous and desperate, and several of 
their respective kings figured for a time as mighty conquerors, 
none of them in those times acquired the consistency and per- 
fect organization which are requisite for a long-sustained 
career of aggrandizement. After the consolidation of the 
great kingdoms, they for some time kept each other in mu- 
tual check. During the first half of the sixteenth century, 
the balancing system was successfully practised by European 
statesmen. But when Philip II. reigned, France had become 
so miserably weak through her civil wars that he had nothing 
to dread from the rival state which had so long curbed his 
father, the Emperor Charles V. In Germany, Italy, and 
Poland he had either zealous friends and dependents, or weak 
and divided enemies. Against the Turks he had gained great 
and glorious successes ; and he might look round the conti- 
nent of Europe without discerning a single antagonist of whom 
he could stand in awe. Spain, when he acceded to the throne, 
was at the zenith of her power. The hardihood and spirit 
which the Aragonese, the CastiHans, and the other nations 
of the Peninsula had acquired during centuries of free insti- 
tutions and successful war against the Moors had not yet 
become obliterated. Charles V. had, indeed, destroyed the 
liberties of Spain ; but that had been done too recently for 
its full evil to be felt in Phihp's time. A people cannot be 
debased in a single generation ; and the Spaniards under 
Charles V. and Philip II. proved the truth of the remark that 
no nation is ever so formidable to its neighbors, for a time, as 
is a nation which, after being trained up in self-government, 
passes suddenly under a despotic ruler. The energy of demo- 
cratic institutions survives for a few generations, and to it are 
superadded the decision and certainty which are the attributes 
of government when all its powers are directed by a single 
mind. It is true that this preternatural vigor is short-lived : 



244 DECISIVE BATTLES [1588 

national corruption and debasement gradually follow the loss 
of the national liberties ; but there is an interval before their 
workings are felt, and in that interval the most ambitious 
schemes of foreign conquest are often successfully undertaken. 

Philip had also the advantage of finding himself at the 
head of a large standing army in a perfect state of disci- 
pline and equipment, in an age when, except some few insig- 
nificant corps, standing armies were unknown in Christendom. 
The renown of the Spanish troops was justly high, and the 
infantry in particular was considered the best in the world. 
His fleet, also, was far more numerous and better appointed 
than that of any other European power; and both his sol- 
diers and his sailors had the confidence in themselves and 
their commanders which a long career of successful warfare 
alone can create. 

Besides the Spanish crown, Philip succeeded to the king- 
dom of Naples and Sicily, the Duchy of Milan, Franche- 
Comte, and the Netherlands. In Africa he possessed Tunis, 
Oran, the Cape Verde and the Canary islands ; and in Asia, 
the Philippine and the Sunda islands, and a part of the Moluc- 
cas. Beyond the Atlantic he was lord of the most splendid 
portions of the New World which " Columbus found for 
Castile and Leon." The empires of Peru and Mexico, New 
Spain, and Chile, with their abundant mines of the precious 
metals, Hispaniola and Cuba, and many other of the American 
islands, were provinces of the sovereign of Spain. 

Philip had, indeed, experienced the mortification of seeing 
the inhabitants of the Netherlands revolt against his author- 
ity, nor could he succeed in bringing back beneath the Span- 
ish scepter all the possessions which his father had bequeathed 
to him. But he had reconquered a large number of the towns 
and districts that originally took up arms against him. Bel- 
gium was brought more thoroughly into implicit obedience to 
Spain than she had been before her insurrection, and it was 
only Holland and the six other northern states that still held 
out against his arms. The contest had also formed a compact 
and veteran army on Philip's side, which, under his great gen- 
eral, the Prince of Parma, had been trained to act together 
under all difificulties and all vicissitudes of warfare ; and 
on whose steadiness and loyalty perfect reliance might be 



1588] DEFEAT OF THE ARMADA 245 

placed throughout any enterprise, however difficult and tedi- 
ous. Alexander Farnese, Prince of Parma, captain-general 
of the Spanish armies, and governor of the Spanish posses- 
sions in the Netherlands, was beyond all comparison the 
greatest military genius of his age. He was also highly dis- 
tinguished for political wisdom and sagacity, and for his great 
administrative talents. He was idolized by his troops, whose 
affections he knew how to win without relaxing their disci- 
pline or diminishing his own authority. Preeminently cool 
and circumspect in his plans, but swift and energetic when 
the moment arrived for striking a decisive blow, neglecting 
no risk that caution could provide against, conciliating even 
the populations of the districts which he attacked by his scru- 
pulous good faith, his moderation, and his address, Farnese 
was one of the most formidable generals that ever could be 
placed at the head of an army designed not only to win bat- 
tles, but to effect conquests. Happy it is for England and 
the world that this island was saved from becoming an arena 
for the exhibition of his powers. 

Whatever diminution the Spanish empire might have sus- 
tained in the Netherlands seemed to be more than com- 
pensated by the acquisition of Portugal, which Philip had 
completely conquered in 1580. Not only that ancient king- 
dom itself, but all the fruits of the maritime enterprises of 
the Portuguese had fallen into Philip's hands. All the Por- 
tuguese colonies in America, Africa, and the East Indies 
acknowledged the sovereignty of the king of Spain, who 
thus not only united the whole Iberian peninsula under his 
single scepter, but had acquired a transmarine empire, little 
inferior in wealth and extent to that which he had inherited 
at his accession. The splendid victory which his fleet, in con- 
junction with the papal and Venetian galleys, had gained at 
Lepanto over the Turks had deservedly exalted the fame 
of the Spanish marine throughout Christendom ; and when 
Philip had reigned thirty-five years the vigor of his empire 
seemed unbroken, and the glory of the Spanish arms had 
increased, and was increasing, throughout the world. 

One nation only had been his active, his persevering, and 
his successful foe. England had encouraged his revolted 
subjects in Flanders against him, and given them the aid 



246 DECISIVE BATTLES [1588 

in men and money without which they must soon have been 
humbled in the dust. English ships had plundered his colo- 
nies, had defied his supremacy in the New World as well 
as the Old ; they had inflicted ignominious defeats on his 
squadrons; they had captured his cities, and burned his 
arsenals on the very coasts of Spain. The English had 
made Philip himself the object of personal insult. He was 
held up to ridicule in their stage plays and masks, and these 
scoffs at the man had (as is not unusual in such cases) 
excited the anger of the absolute king, even more vehe- 
mently than the injuries inflicted on his power. Personal as 
well as political revenge urged him to attack England. Were 
she once subdued, the Dutch must submit ; France could not 
cope with him, the empire would not oppose him ; and uni- 
versal dominion seemed sure to be the result of the conquest 
of that malignant island. 

There was yet another and a stronger feeling which armed 
King Philip against England. He was one of the sincerest 
and sternest bigots of his age. He looked on himself, and 
was looked on by others, as the appointed champion to extir- 
pate heresy and reestablish the papal power throughout 
Europe. A powerful reaction against Protestantism had 
taken place since the commencement of the second half of 
the sixteenth century, and Philip believed that he was des- 
tined to complete it. The Reform doctrines had been thor- 
oughly rooted out from Italy and Spain. Belgium, which 
had previously been half Protestant, had been reconquered 
both in allegiance and creed by Philip, and had become one 
of the most Catholic countries in the world. Half Germany 
had been won back to the old faith. In Savoy, in Switzer- 
land, and many other countries, the progress of the counter- 
Reformation had been rapid and decisive. The Catholic 
league seemed victorious in France. The papal court itself 
had shaken off the supineness of recent centuries, and, at 
the head of the Jesuits and the other new ecclesiastical 
orders, was displaying a vigor and a boldness worthy of the 
days of Hildebrand or Innocent III. 

Throughout Continental Europe, the Protestants, discom- 
fited and dismayed, looked to England as their protector and 
refuge. England was the acknowledged central point of 



1588] DEFEAT OF THE ARMADA 247 

Protestant power and policy ; and to conquer England was 
to stab Protestantism to the very heart. Sixtus V., the then 
reigning pope, earnestly exhorted Philip to this enterprise. 
And when the tidings reached Italy and Spain that the 
Protestant queen of England had put to death her Catholic 
prisoner, Mary Queen of Scots, the fury of the Vatican and 
the Escurial knew no bounds. 

The Prince of Parma, who was appointed military chief 
of the expedition, collected on the coast of Flanders a vet- 
eran force that was to play a principal part in the conquest 
of England. Besides the troops who were in his garrisons, 
or under his colors, five thousand infantry were sent to him 
from Northern and Central Italy, four thousand from the 
kingdom of Naples, six thousand from Castile, three thou- 
sand from Aragon, three thousand from Austria and Ger- 
many, together with four squadrons of heavy-armed horse; 
besides which he received forces from the Franche-Comte 
and the Walloon country. By his command, the forest of 
Waes was felled for the purpose of building flat-bottomed 
boats, which, floating down the rivers and canals to Mein- 
port and Dunkirk, were to carry this large army of chosen 
troops to the mouth of the Thames, under the escort of the 
great Spanish fleet. Gun-carriages, fascines, machines used 
in sieges, together with every material requisite for building 
bridges, forming camps, and raising fortresses, were to be 
placed on board the flotillas of the Prince of Parma, who 
followed up the conquest of the Netherlands while he was 
making preparations for the invasion of this island. Favored 
by the dissensions between the insurgents of the United Prov- 
inces and Leicester, the Prince of Parma had recovered 
Deventer, as well as a fort before Zutphen, which the Eng- 
lish commanders. Sir William Stanley, the friend of Babing- 
ton, and Sir Roland York, had surrendered to him when 
with their troops they passed over to the service of Philip 
II., after the death of Mary Stuart, and he had also made 
himself master of the Sluys. His intention was to leave to 
the Count de Mansfeldt sufficient forces to follow up the 
war with the Dutch, which had now become a secondary ob- 
ject, while he himself went, at the head of fifty thousand men 
of the Armada and the flotilla, to accomplish the principal 



248 DECISIVE BATTLES [1588 

enterprise — that enterprise which in the highest degree 
affected the interests of the pontifical authority. In a bull, 
intended to be kept secret until the day of landing, Sixtus V., 
renewing the anathema fulminated against Elizabeth by Pius 
V. and Gregory XIII., affected to depose her from our throne. 
Elizabeth was denounced as a murderous heretic whose 
destruction was an instant duty. A formal treaty was con- 
cluded (in June, 1587), by which the pope bound himself to 
contribute a million of scudi to the expenses of the war ; the 
money to be paid as soon as the king had actual possession 
of an English port. Philip, on his part, strained the resources 
of his vast empire to the utmost. The French Catholic chiefs 
eagerly cooperated with him. In the seaports of the Medi- 
terranean, and along almost the whole coast from Gibraltar 
to Jutland, the preparations for the great armament were 
urged forward with all the earnestness of religious zeal as 
well as of angry ambition. "Thus," says the German his- 
torian of the popes [Ranke], "thus did the united powers of 
Italy and Spain, from which such mighty influences had gone 
forth over the whole world, now rouse themselves for an at- 
tack upon England ! The king had already compiled, from 
the archives of Simancas, a statement of the claims which he 
had to the throne of that country on the extinction of the 
Stuart line ; the most brilliant prospects, especially that of a 
universal dominion of the seas, were associated in his mind 
with this enterprise. Everything seemed to conspire to such 
end : the predominance of Catholicism in Germany, the re- 
newed attack upon the Huguenots in France, the attempt 
upon Geneva, and the enterprise against England. At the 
same moment a thoroughly Catholic prince, Sigismund III., 
ascended the throne of Poland, with the prospect also of 
future succession to the throne of Sweden. But whenever 
any principle or power, be it what it may, aims at unlimited 
supremacy in Europe, some vigorous resistance to it, having 
its origin in the deepest springs of human nature, invariably 
arises. Philip II. had had to encounter newly awakened 
powers, braced by the vigor of youth, and elevated by a sense 
of their future destiny. The intrepid corsairs, who had ren- 
dered every sea insecure, now clustered round the coasts of 
their native island. The Protestants in a body — even the 



1588] DEFEAT OF THE ARMADA 249 

Puritans, although they had been subjected to as severe 
oppressions as the Catholics — rallied round their queen, 
who now gave admirable proof of her masculine courage and 
her princely talent of winning the affections and leading the 
minds and preserving the allegiance of men." 

Ranke should have added that the English Catholics at this 
crisis proved themselves as loyal to their queen, and true to 
their country, as were the most vehement anti-Catholic zealots 
in the island. Some few traitors there were ; but, as a body, 
the Englishmen who held the ancient faith stood the trial of 
their patriotism nobly. The lord admiral himself was a Cath- 
olic, and (to adopt the words of Hallam) " then it was that 
the Catholics in every county repaired to the standard of the 
lord lieutenant, imploring that they might not be suspected of 
bartering the national independence for their religion itself." 
The Spaniard found no partisans in the country which he 
assailed, nor did England, self-wounded, 

" Lie at the proud foot of her enemy." 

For some time the destination of the enormous armament 
of Philip was not publicly announced. Only Philip himself, 
the Pope Sixtus, the Duke of Guise, and Philip's favorite 
minister, Mendoza, at first knew its real object. Rumors 
were sedulously spread that it was designed to proceed to 
the Indies to realize vast projects of distant conquest. Some- 
times hints were dropped by Philip's ambassadors in foreign 
courts that his master had resolved on a decisive effort to 
crush his rebels in the Low Countries. But Elizabeth and 
her statesmen could not view the gathering of such a storm 
without feeling the probability of its bursting on their own 
shores. As early as the spring of 1587, Elizabeth sent Sir 
Francis Drake to cruise off the Tagus. Drake sailed into 
the Bay of Cadiz and the Lisbon Roads, and burned much 
shipping and military stores, causing thereby an important 
delay in the progress of the Spanish preparations. Drake 
called this " singeing the king of Spain's beard." Elizabeth 
also increased her succors of troops to the Netherlanders, to 
prevent the Prince of Parma from overwhelming them and 
from thence being at full leisure to employ his army against 
her dominions. 



250 DECISIVE BATTLES [1588 

Each party at this time thought it poHtic to try to amuse its 
adversary by pretending to treat for peace, and negotiations 
were opened at Ostend in the beginning of 1588, which were 
prolonged during the first six months of that year. Nothing 
real was effected, and probably nothing real had been intended 
to be effected, by them. But, in the mean time, each party 
had been engaged in important communications with the 
chief powers in France, in which Elizabeth seemed at first to 
have secured a great advantage, but in which Philip ultimately 
prevailed. " Henry III. of France was alarmed at the nego- 
tiations that were going on at Ostend ; and he especially 
dreaded any accommodation between Spain and England, in 
consequence of which Philip II. might be enabled to subdue 
the United Provinces and make himself master of France. 
In order, therefore, to dissuade Elizabeth from any arrange- 
ment, he offered to support her, in case she were attacked by 
the Spaniards, with twice the number of troops which he was 
bound by the treaty of 1574 to send to her assistance. He 
had a long conference with her ambassador, Stafford, upon 
this subject, and told him that the pope and the Catholic king 
had entered into a league against the queen, his mistress, 
and had invited himself and the Venetians to join them, but 
they had refused to do so. ' If the queen of England,' he 
added, ' concludes a peace with the Catholic king, that peace 
will not last three months, because the Catholic king will aid 
the League with all his forces to overthrow her, and you may 
imagine what fate is reserved for your mistress after that.' 
On the other hand, in order most effectually to frustrate this 
negotiation, he proposed to Philip II. to form a still closer 
union between the two crowns of France and Spain ; and, at 
the same time, he secretly despatched a confidential envoy 
to Constantinople to warn the sultan that, if he did not again 
declare war against the Catholic king, that monarch, who 
already possessed the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, the 
Indies, and nearly all Italy, would soon make himself master 
of England, and would then turn the forces of all Europe 
against the Turks." [Mignet.] 

But Philip had an ally in France who was far more power- 
ful than the French king. This was the Duke of Guise, the 
chief of the League, and the idol of the fanatic partisans of 



1588] DEFEAT OF THE ARMADA 251 

the Romish faith. Philip prevailed on Guise openly to take 
up arms against Henry III. (who was reviled by the Leaguers 
as a traitor to the true Church and a secret friend to the Hu- 
guenots), and thus prevent the French king from interfering 
in favor of Queen Elizabeth. "With this object, the com- 
mander, Juan Iniguez Moreo, was despatched by him in the 
early part of April to the Duke of Guise at Soissons. He 
met with complete success. He offered the Duke of Guise, 
as soon as he took the field against Henry IH., three hundred 
thousand crowns, six thousand infantry, and twelve hundred 
pikemen, on behalf of the king his master, who would, in addi- 
tion, withdraw his ambassador from the court of France, and 
accredit an envoy to the Catholic party. A treaty was con- 
cluded on these conditions, and the Duke of Guise entered 
Paris, where he was expected by the Leaguers, and whence 
he expelled Henry HL on the 12th of May by the insurrec- 
tion of the barricades. A fortnight after this insurrection, 
which reduced Henry III. to impotence, and, to use the lan- 
guage of the Prince of Parma, did not even ' permit him to 
assist the queen of England with his tears, as he needed 
them all to weep over his own misfortunes,' the Spanish fleet 
left the Tagus and sailed towards the British isles." [Mignet] 
Meanwhile in England, from the sovereign on the throne to 
the peasant in the cottage, all hearts and hands made ready 
to meet the imminent deadly peril. Circular letters from the 
queen were sent round to the lord lieutenants of the several 
counties requiring them "to call together the best sort of 
gentlemen under their lieutenancy, and to declare unto them 
these great preparations and arrogant threatenings, now burst 
forth in action upon the seas, wherein every man's particular 
state, in the highest degree, could be touched in respect of 
country, liberty, wives, children, lands, lives, and (which was 
specially to be regarded) the profession of the true and sin- 
cere religion of Christ ; and to lay before them the infinite 
and unspeakable miseries that would fall out upon any such 
change, which miseries were evidently seen by the fruits of 
that hard and cruel government holden in countries not far 
distant. We do look," said the queen, "that the most part 
of them should have, upon this instant extraordinary occa- 
sion, a larger proportion of furniture, both for horsemen and 



252 DECISIVE BATTLES [1588 

footmen, but especially horsemen, than hath been certified ; 
thereby to be in their best strength against any attempt, or to 
be employed about our own person, or otherwise. Hereunto 
as we doubt not but by your good endeavors they will be the 
rather conformable, so also we assure ourselves that Almighty 
God will so bless these their loyal hearts borne towards us, 
their loving sovereign and their natural country, that all the 
attempts of any enemy whatsoever shall be made void and frus- 
trate, to their confusion, your comfort, and to God's high glory." 
Letters of a similar kind were also sent by the council to 
each of the nobility and to the great cities. The primate 
called on the clergy for their contributions; and by every 
class of the community the appeal was responded to with lib- 
eral zeal, that offered more even than the queen required. 
The boasting threats of the Spaniards had roused the spirit 
of the nation ; and the whole people " were thoroughly irri- 
tated to stir up their whole forces for their defense against 
such prognosticated conquests ; so that, in a very short time, 
all the whole realm, and every corner, were furnished with 
armed men, on horseback and on foot ; and these continually 
trained, exercised, and put into bands, in warlike manner, as 
in no age ever was before in this realm. There was no spar- 
ing of money to provide horse, armor, weapons, powder, and 
all necessaries; no, nor want of provision of pioneers, car- 
riages, and victuals, in every county of the realm, without 
exception, to attend upon the armies. And to this general 
furniture every man voluntarily offered, very many their 
services personally without wages, others money for armor 
and weapons, and to wage soldiers: a matter strange, and 
never the like heard of in this realm or elsewhere. And this 
general reason moved all men to large contributions, that 
when a conquest was to be withstood wherein all should be 
lost, it was no time to spare a portion." [Southey.] 

Our lion-hearted queen showed herself worthy of such a 
people. A camp was formed at Tilbury; and there Eliza- 
beth rode through the ranks, encouraging her captains and 
her soldiers by her presence and her words. One of the 
speeches which she addressed to them during this crisis has 
been preserved; and, though often quoted, it must not be 
omitted here. 



1588] DEFEAT OF THE ARMADA 253 

'* My loving people," she said, " we have been persuaded 
by some that are careful of our safety to take heed how we 
commit ourselves to armed multitudes for fear of treachery ; 
but I assure you I do not desire to live to distrust my faith- 
ful and loving people. Let tyrants fear ! I have always so 
behaved myself, that, under God, I have placed my chiefest 
strength and safeguard in the loyal hearts and good-will of 
my subjects ; and, therefore, I am come amongst you, as you 
see, at this time, not for my recreation or disport, but being 
resolved, in the midst and heat of the battle, to live or die 
amongst you all, to lay down for my God, for my kingdom, 
and for my people, my honor and my blood, even in the dust, 
I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman, but 
I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of 
England too ; and think it foul scorn that Parma, or Spain, 
or any prince of Europe, should dare to invade the borders 
of my realm ; to which, rather than any dishonor shall grow 
by me, I myself will take up arms, I myself will be your gen- 
eral, judge, and rewarder of every one of your virtues in the 
field. I know already for your forwardness you have de- 
served rewards and crowns ; and we do assure you, on the 
word of a prince, they shall be duly paid you. In the mean 
time my lieutenant-general shall be in my stead, than whom 
never prince commanded a more noble or worthy subject, not 
doubting but by your obedience to my general, by your con- 
cord in the camp, and your valor in the field, we shall shortly 
have a famous victory over those enemies of my God, of my 
kingdom, and of my people." 

We have minute proofs of the skill with which the govern- 
ment of Elizabeth made its preparations ; for the documents 
still exist which were drawn up at that time by the ministers 
and military men who were consulted by Elizabeth respecting 
the defense of the country. Among those summoned to the 
advice of their queen at this crisis were Sir Walter Raleigh, 
Lord Grey, Sir Francis Knolles, Sir Thomas Leighton, Sir 
John Norris, Sir Richard Grenville, Sir Richard Bingham, 
and Sir Roger Williams ; and the biographer of Sir Walter 
Raleigh observes that "these councilors were chosen by 
the queen, as being not only men bred to arms, and some of 
them, as Grey, Norris, Bingham, and Grenville, of high mili- 



254 DECISIVE BATTLES [1588 

tary talents, but of grave experience in affairs of state, and 
in the civil government of provinces — qualities by no means 
unimportant, when the debate referred not merely to the lead- 
ing of an army or the plan of a campaign, but to the organi- 
zation of a militia, and the communication with the magistrates 
for arming the peasantry, and encouraging them to a resolute 
and simultaneous resistance. From some private papers of 
Lord Burleigh, it appears that Sir Walter took a principal 
share in these deliberations ; and the abstract of their pro- 
ceedings, a document still preserved, is supposed to have been 
drawn up by him. They first prepared a list of places where 
it was likely the Spanish army might attempt a descent, as 
well as of those which lay most exposed to the force under 
the Duke of Parma. They next considered the speediest and 
most effectual means of defense, whether by fortification or 
the muster of a military array ; and, lastly, deliberated on the 
course to be taken for fighting the enemy if he should land." 
Some of Elizabeth's advisers recommended that the whole 
care and resources of the government should be devoted to 
the equipment of the armies, and that the enemy, when he 
attempted to land, should be welcomed with a battle on the 
shore. But the wiser counsels of Raleigh and others pre- 
vailed, who urged the importance of fitting out a fleet, that 
should encounter the Spaniards at sea, and, if possible, pre- 
vent them from approaching the land at all. In Raleigh's 
great work on the " History of the World," he takes occa- 
sion, when discussing some of the events of the first Punic 
war, to give his reasonings on the proper policy of England 
when menaced with invasion. Without doubt, we have there 
the substance of the advice which he gave to Elizabeth's 
council ; and the remarks of such a man, on such a subject, 
have a general and enduring interest, beyond the immediate 
peril which called them forth. Raleigh says : " Surely I hold 
that the best way is to keep our enemies from treading upon 
our ground : wherein if we fail, then must we seek to make 
him wish that he had stayed at his own home. In such a 
case if it should happen, our judgments are to weigh many 
particular circumstances, that belongs not unto this discourse. 
But making the question general, the positive. Whether Eng- 
land, without the help of her fleet, be able to debar an enemy 



1588] DEFEAT OF THE ARMADA 255 

from landing ; I hold that it is unable so to do ; and therefore 
I think it most dangerous to make the adventure. For the 
encouragement of a first victory to an enemy, and the dis- 
couragement of being beaten, to the invaded, may draw after 
it a most perilous consequence. 

" Great difference I know there is, and a diverse considera- 
tion to be had, between such a country as France is, strength- 
ened with many fortified places, and this of ours, where our 
ramparts are but the bodies of men. But I say that an army 
to be transported over sea, and to be landed again in an 
enemy's country, and the place left to the choice of the 
invader, cannot be resisted on the coast of England, without 
a fleet to impeach it ; no, nor on the coast of France, or any 
other country ; except every creek, port, or sandy bay had a 
powerful army in each of them, to make opposition. For. let 
the supposition be granted that Kent is able to furnish twelve 
thousand foot, and that those twelve thousand be layed in the 
three best landing-places within that county, to wit, three 
thousand at Margat, three thousand at the Nesse, and six 
thousand at Foulkstone, that is, somewhat equally distant 
from them both ; as also that two of these troops (unless /^ 

some other order be thought more fit) be directed to strengthen ' ^ 

the third, when they shall see the enemies' fleet to head 
towards it : I say, that notwithstanding this provision, if the 
enemy, setting sail from the Isle of Wight in the first watch 
of the night, and towing their long boats at their sterns, shall 
arrive by dawn of day at the Nesse, and thrust their army on 
shore there, it will be hard for those three thousand that are 
at Margat (twenty-and-four long miles from thence) to come 
time enough to reinforce their fellows at the Nesse. Nay, 
how shall they at Foulkstone be able to do it, who are nearer 
by more than half the way .-' seeing that the enemy, at his 
first arrival, will either make his entrance by force, with three 
or four shot of great artillery, and quickly put the first three 
thousand that are entrenched at the Nesse to run, or else give 
them so much to do that they shall be glad to send for help 
to Foulkstone, and perhaps to Margat, whereby those places 
will be left bare. Now let us suppose that all the twelve 
thousand Kentish soldiers arrive at the Nesse, ere the enemy 
can be ready to disembark his army, so that he will find it 



256 DECISIVE BATTLES [1588 

unsafe to land in the face of so many prepared to withstand 
him, yet must we believe that he will play the best of his own 
game (having liberty to go which way he list), and, under 
covert of the night, set sail towards the east, where what 
shall hinder him to take ground either at Margat, the 
Downes, or elsewhere, before they, at the Nesse, can be well 
aware of his departure ? Certainly there is nothing more 
easy than to do it. Yea, the like may be said of Weymouth, 
Purbeck, Poole, and of all landing-places on the southwest. 
For there is no man ignorant that ships, without putting 
themselves out of breath, will easily outrun the souldiers that 
coast them. ' Les armees ne volent point en poste ' — * Armies 
neither flye, nor run post ' — saith a marshal of France. And 
I know it to be true, that a fleet of ships may be seen at sun- 
set, and after it at the Lizard, yet by the next morning they 
may recover Portland, whereas an army of foot shall not be 
able to march it in six dayes. Again, when those troops 
lodged on the seashores shall be forced to run from place to 
place in vain, after a fleet of ships, they will at length sit 
down in the midway, and leave all at adventure. But say it 
were otherwise, that the invading enemy will offer to land in 
some such place, where there shall be an army of ours ready 
to receive him ; yet it cannot be doubted, but that when the 
choice of all our trained bands, and the choice of our com- 
manders and captains, shall be drawn together (as they were 
at Tilbury in the year 1588) to attend the person of the 
prince, and for the defence of the city of London, they that 
remain to guard the coast can be of no such force as to 
encounter an army like unto that wherewith it was intended 
that the Prince of Parma should have landed in England. 

" For end of this digression, I hope that this question shall 
never come to trial ; his majestie's many moveable forts will 
forbid the experience. And although the English will no less 
disdain that any nation under heaven can do, to be beaten, 
upon their own ground, or elsewhere, by a foreign enemy ; yet 
to entertain those that shall assail us with their own beef in 
their bellies, and before they eat of our Kentish capons, I take 
it to be the wisest way; to do which his majestic, after God, 
will employ his good ships on the sea, and not trust in any 
intrenchment upon the shore." 



1588] DEFEAT OF THE ARMADA 257 

The introduction of steam as a propelling power at sea has 
added tenfold weight to these arguments of Raleigh. On the 
other hand, a well-constructed system of railways, especially 
of coast lines, aided by the operation of the electric telegraph, 
would give facilities for concentrating a defensive army to 
oppose an enemy on landing, and for moving troops from 
place to place in observation of the movements of the hostile 
fleet, such as would have astonished Sir Walter even more 
than the sight of vessels passing rapidly to and fro without 
the aid of wind or tide. The observation of the French mar- 
shal, whom he quotes, is now no longer correct. Armies can 
be made to pass from place to place almost with the speed of 
wings, and far more rapidly than any post traveling that was 
known in the Elizabethan or any other age. Still, the pres- 
ence of a sufficient armed force at the right spot, at the right 
time, can never be made a matter of certainty ; and even after 
the changes that have taken place, no one can doubt but that 
the policy of Raleigh is that which England should ever seek 
to follow in defensive war. At the time of the Armada, that 
policy certainly saved the country, if not from conquest, at 
least from deplorable calamities. If indeed the enemy had 
landed, we may be sure that he would have been heroically 
opposed. But history shows us so many examples of the 
superiority of veteran troops over new levies, however numer- 
ous and brave, that without disparaging our countrymen's 
soldierly merits, we may well be thankful that no trial of 
them was then made on English land. Especially must we 
feel this when we contrast the high military genius of the 
Prince of Parma, who would have headed the Spaniards, with 
the imbecility of the Earl of Leicester, to whom the deplorable 
spirit of favoritism, which formed the greatest blemish in 
Elizabeth's character, had then committed the chief command 
of the English armies. 

The ships of the royal navy at this time amounted to no 
more than thirty-six ; but the most serviceable merchant ves- 
sels were collected from all the ports of the country ; and the 
citizens of London, Bristol, and the other great seats of com- 
merce showed as liberal a zeal in equipping and manning ves- 
sels as the nobility and gentry displayed in mustering forces 
by land. The seafaring population of the coast, of every 



258 DECISIVE BATTLES [1588 

rank and station, was animated by the same ready spirit ; and 
the whole number of seamen who came forward to man the 
EngUsh fleet was 17,472. The number of the ships that were 
collected was 191 ; and the total amount of their tonnage 
31,985. There was one ship in the fleet (the TriinnpJi) of 
1 100 tons, one of 1000, one of 900, two of 800 each, three of 
600, five of 500, five of 400, six of 300, six of 2 50,' twenty 
of 200, and the residue of inferior burden. Application was 
made to the Dutch for assistance ; and, as Stowe expresses 
it, "the Hollanders came roundly in, with threescore sail, 
brave ships of war, fierce and full of spleen, not so much 
for England's aid, as in just occasion for their own defense, 
these men foreseeing the greatness of the danger that might 
ensue if the Spaniards should chance to win the day and get 
the mastery over them ; in due regard whereof their manly 
courage was inferior to none." 

We have more minute information of the numbers and 
equipment of the hostile forces than we have of our own. 
In the first volume of Hakluyt's "Voyages," dedicated to 
Lord Effingham, who commanded against the Armada, there 
is given (from the contemporary foreign writer Meteran) a 
more complete and detailed catalogue than has perhaps ever 
appeared of a similar armament. 

" A very large and particular description of this navie was 
put in print and published by the Spaniards ; wherein was set 
downe the number, names, and burthens of the shippes, the 
number of mariners and souldiers throughout the whole 
fleete ; likewise the quantitie of their ordinance, of their 
armour, of bullets, of match, of gun-poulder, of victuals, 
and of all their navall furniture, was in the saide description 
particularized. Unto all these were added the names of the 
governours, captaines, noblemen, and gentlemen voluntaries, 
of whom there was so great a multitude, that scarce was there 
any family of accompt, or any one principall man throughout 
all Spaine, that had not a brother, sonne, or kinsman in that 
fleete ; who all of them were in good hope to purchase unto 
themselves in that navie (as they termed it) invincible, end- 
less glory and renown, and to possess themselves of great 
seigniories and riches in England, and in the Low Countreys. 
But because the said description was translated and published 



1588] DEFEAT OF THE ARMADA 259 

out of Spanish into divers other languages, we will here only- 
make an abridgement or brief rehearsal thereof. 

"Portugal furnished and set foorth under the conduct of 
the Duke of Medina Sidonia, generall of the fleete, ten 
galeons, two zabraes, 1300 mariners, 3300 souldiers, 300 great 
pieces, with all requisite furniture. 

" Biscay, under the conduct of John Martines de Ricalde, 
admiral of the whole fleete, set forth tenne galeons, four 
pataches, 700 mariners, 2000 souldiers, 260 great pieces, etc. 

" Guipusco, under the conduct of Michael de Orquendo, 
tenne galeons, four pataches, 700 mariners, 2000 souldiers, 
310 great pieces. 

" Italy with the Levant islands, under Martine de Verten- 
dona, ten galeons, 800 mariners, 2000 souldiers, 310 great 
pieces, &c. 

" Castile, under Diego Flores de Valdez, fourteen galeons, 
two pataches, 1700 mariners, 2400 souldiers, and 380 great 
pieces, &c. 

" Andaluzia, under the conduct of Petro de Valdez, ten 
galeons, one patache, 800 mariners, 2400 souldiers, 280 great 
pieces, &c. 

"Item, under the conduct of John Lopez de Medina, 
twenty-three great Flemish hulkes, with 700 mariners, 3200 
souldiers, and 400 great pieces. 

" Item, under Hugo de Mongada, foure galliasses, contain- 
ing 1 200 gally-slaves, 460 mariners, 870 souldiers, 200 great 
pieces, &c. 

" Item, under Diego de Mandrana, foure gallies of Portu- 
gall, with 888 gally-slaves, 360 mariners, twenty great pieces, 
and other requisite furniture. 

" Item, under Anthonie de Mendoza, twenty-two pataches 
and zabraes, with 574 mariners, 488 souldiers, and 193 great 
pieces. 

" Besides the ships aforementioned, there were twenty 
caravels rowed with oares, being appointed to perform neces- 
sary services under the greater ships, insomuch that all the 
ships appertayning to this navie amounted unto the summe 
of 1 50, eche one being sufficiently provided of furniture and 
victuals. 

"The number of mariners in the saide fleete were above 



260 DECISIVE BATTLES [1588 

8000, of slaves 2088, of souldiers 20,000 (besides noblemen 
and gentlemen voluntaries), of great cast pieces 2600. The 
aforesaid ships were of an huge and incredible capacitie and 
receipt : for the whole fleete was large enough to containe the 
burthen of 60,000 tunnes. 

" The galeons were 64 in number, being of an huge big- 
nesse, and very flately built, being of marvellous force also, 
and so high, that they resembled great castles, most fit to de- 
fend themselves and to withstand any assault, but in giving 
any other ships the encounter farr inferiour unto the English 
and Dutch ships, which can with great dexteritie weild and 
turne themselves at all assayes. The upperworke of the said 
galeons was of thicknesse and strength sufficient to bear off 
musket-shot. The lower worke and the timbers thereof were 
out of measure strong, being framed of plankes and ribs foure 
or five foote in thicknesse, insomuch that no bullets could 
pierce them, but such as were discharged hard at hand; 
which afterward prooved true, for a great number of bullets 
were found to sticke fast within the massie substance of those 
thicke plankes. Great and well pitched cables were twined 
about the masts of their shippes, to strengthen them against 
the battery of shot. 

" The galliasses were of such bignesse, that they contained 
within them chambers, chapels, turrets, pulpits, and other 
commodities of great houses. The galliasses were rowed with 
great oares, there being in eche one of them 300 slaves for 
the same purpose, and were able to do great service with the 
force of their ordinance. All these, together with the residue 
aforenamed, were furnished and beautified with trumpets, 
streamers, banners, warlike ensignes, and other such like 
ornaments. 

"Their pieces of brazen ordinance were 1600, and of yron 
1000. 

"The bullets thereto belonging were 120 thousand. 

"Item of gun-poulder, 5600 quintals. Of matche, 1200 
quintals. Of muskets and kaleivers, 7000. Of haleberts and 
partisans, 10,000. 

" Moreover they had great store of canons, double-canons. 
Quiverings and field-pieces for land services. 

" Likewise they were provided of all instruments necessary 



1588] DEFEAT OF THE ARMADA ^ 26 1 

on land to conveigh and transport their furniture from place 
to place ; as namely of carts, wheeles, wagons, &c. Also they 
had spades, mattocks, and baskets, to set pioners to worke. 
They had in like sort great store of mules and horses, and 
whatsoever else was requisite for a land-armie. They were 
so well stored of biscuit, that for the space of halfe a yeere, 
they might allow eche person in the whole fleete halfe a quin- 
tall every month ; whereof the whole summe amounteth unto 
an hundreth thousand quintals. 

" Likewise of wine they had 147 thousand pipes, sufficient 
also for halfe a yeere's expedition. Of bacon, 6500 quintals. 
Of cheese, three thousand quintals. Besides fish, rise, beanes, 
pease, oile, vinegar, &c. 

"Moreover they had 12,000 pipes of fresh water, and all 
other necessary provision, as, namely, candles, lanternes, 
lampes, sailes, hempe, oxe-hides, and lead to stop holes that 
should be made with the battery of gun-shot. To be short, 
they brought all things expedient, either for a fleete by sea, 
or for an armie by land. 

" This navie (as Diego Pimentelli afterward confessed) was 
esteemed by the king himself e to containe 32,000 persons, 
and to cost him every day 30 thousand ducates. 

" There were in the said navie five terzaes of Spaniards 
(which terzaes the Frenchmen call regiments), under the 
command of five governours, termed by the Spaniards mas- 
ters of the field, and amongst the rest there were many olde 
and expert souldiers chosen out of the garrisons of Sicilie, 
Naples, and Ter^era. Their captaines or colonels were Diego 
Pimentelli, Don Francisco de Toledo, Don Alon^o de Lugon, 
Don Nicolas de Isla, Don Augustin de Mexia ; who had each 
of them thirty-two companies under their conduct. Besides 
the which companies, there were many bands also of Castil- 
ians and Portugals, every one of which had their peculiar 
governours, captains, officers, colours, and weapons." 

While this huge Armada was making ready in the southern 
ports of the Spanish dominions, the Prince of Parma, with 
almost incredible toil and skill, collected a squadron of war- 
ships at Dunkirk, and his flotilla of other ships and of flat- 
bottomed boats for the transport to England of the picked 
troops, which were designed to be the main instruments in 



262 ^ DECISIVE BATTLES [1588 

subduing England. Thousands of workmen were employed, 
night and day, in the construction of these vessels, in the 
ports of Flanders and Brabant. One hundred of the kind 
called hendes, built at Antwerp, Bruges, and Ghent, and 
laden with provision and ammunition, together with sixty 
flat-bottomed boats, each capable of carrying thirty horses, 
were brought, by means of canals and fosses dug expressly 
for the purpose, to Nieuport and Dunkirk. One hundred 
smaller vessels were equipped at the former place, and thirty- 
two at Dunkirk, provided with twenty thousand empty bar- 
rels, and with materials for making pontoons, for stopping up 
the harbors, and raising forts and entrenchments. The army 
which these vessels were designed to convey to England 
amounted to thirty thousand strong, besides a body of four 
thousand cavalry, stationed at Courtroi, composed chiefly of 
the ablest veterans of Europe ; invigorated by rest (the siege 
of Sluys having been the only enterprise in which they were 
employed during the last campaign) and excited by the hopes 
of plunder and the expectation of certain conquest. And 
" to this great enterprise and imaginary conquest, divers 
princes and noblemen came from divers countries ; out of 
Spain came the Duke of Pestraiia, who was said to be the 
son of Ruy Gomez de Silva, but was held to be the king's 
bastard ; the Marquis of Bourgou, one of the Archduke 
Ferdinand's sons, by Philippina Welserine ; Don Vespasian 
Gonzaga, of the house of Mantua, a great soldier, who had 
been viceroy in Spain ; Giovanni de Medici, Bastard of Flor- 
ence ; Amedo, Bastard of Savoy, with many such like, besides 
others of meaner quality." [Grimstone.] 

Philip had been advised by the deserter, Sir William Stan- 
ley, not to attack England in the first instance, but first to 
effect a landing and secure a strong position in Ireland ; his 
admiral, Santa Cruz, had recommended him to make sure, in 
the first instance, of some large harbor on the coast of Hol- 
land or Zealand, where the Armada, having entered the 
Channel, might find shelter in case of storm, and whence it 
could sail without difficulty for England ; but Philip rejected 
both these counsels, and directed that England itself should 
be made the immediate object of attack ; and on the 20th of 
May the Armada left the Tagus, in the pomp and pride of 



1588] DEFEAT OF THE ARMADA 263 

supposed invincibility, and amid the shouts of thousands, who 
believed that England was already conquered. But steering 
to the northward, and before it was clear of the coast of 
Spain, the Armada was assailed by a violent storm, and 
driven back with considerable damage to the ports of Biscay 
and Galicia. It had, however, sustained its heaviest loss before 
it left the Tagus, in the death of the veteran admiral Santa 
Cruz, who had been destined to guide it against England. 

This experienced sailor, notwithstanding his diligence and 
success, had been unable to keep pace with the impatient 
ardor of his master. Philip II. had reproached him with his 
dilatoriness, and had said with ungrateful harshness, " You 
make an ill return for all my kindness to you." These words 
cut the veteran's heart, and proved fatal to Santa Cruz. 
Overwhelmed with fatigue and grief, he sickened and died. 
Philip II. had replaced him by Alonzo Perez de Gusman, 
Duke of Medina Sidonia, one of the most powerful of the 
Spanish grandees, but wholly unqualified to command such 
an expedition. He had, however, as his lieutenants, two sea- 
men of proved skill and bravery, Juan de Martinez Recalde 
of Biscay, and Miguel Orquendo of Guipuzcoa. 

The report of the storm which had beaten back the Armada 
reached England with much exaggeration, and it was supposed 
by some of the queen's counselors that the invasion would 
now be deferred to another year. But Lord Howard of 
Efifingham, the lord high admiral of the English fleet, judged 
more wisely that the danger was not yet passed, and, as 
already mentioned, had the moral courage to refuse to dis- 
mantle his principal ships, though he received orders to that 
effect. But it was not Howard's design to keep the English 
fleet in costly inaction, and to wait patiently in our own har- 
bors till the Spaniards had recruited their strength and sailed 
forth again to attack us. The English seamen of that age 
(like their successors) loved to strike better than to parry, 
though, when emergency required, they could be patient and 
cautious in their bravery. It was resolved to proceed to 
Spain to learn the enemy's real condition, and to deal him 
any blow for which there might be opportunity. In this bold 
policy we may well believe him to have been eagerly seconded 
by those who commanded under him. Howard and Drake 



264 DECISIVE BATTLES [1588 

sailed accordingly to Corunna, hoping to surprise and attack 
some part of the Armada in that harbor ; but when near the 
coast of Spain, the north wind, which had blown up to that 
time, veered suddenly to the south ; and fearing that the 
Spaniards might put to sea and pass him unobserved, How- 
ard returned to the entrance of the Channel, where he cruised 
for some time on the lookout for the enemy. In part of a 
letter written by him at this period, he speaks of the difficulty 
of guarding so large a breadth of sea — a difficulty that ought 
not to be forgotten when modern schemes of defense against 
hostile fleets from the south are discussed. " I myself," he 
wrote, " do lie in the midst of the Channel, with the greatest 
force ; Sir Francis Drake hath twenty ships and four or five 
pinnaces, which lie towards Ushant ; and Mr. Hawkins, with 
as many more, lieth towards Scilly. Thus we are fain to do, 
or else with this wind they might pass us by, and we never 
the wiser. The Sleeve is another manner of thing than it 
was taken for : we find it by experience and daily observation 
to be 100 miles over — a large room for me to look unto!" 
But after some time further reports that the Spaniards were 
inactive in their harbor, where they were suffering severely 
from sickness, caused Howard also to relax in his vigilance ; 
and he returned to Plymouth with the greater part of his 
fleet. 

On the 1 2th of July, the Armada having completely refitted, 
sailed again for the Channel, and reached it without obstruc- 
tion or observation by the English. 

The design of the Spaniards was, that the Armada should 
give them, at least for a time, the command of the sea, and 
that it should join the squadron which Parma had collected 
off Calais. Then, escorted by an overpowering naval force, 
Parma and his army were to embark in their flotilla, and cross 
the sea to England, where they were to be landed, together 
with the troops which the Armada brought from the ports 
of Spain. The scheme was not dissimilar to one formed 
against England a little more than two centuries afterwards. 

As Napoleon, in 1805, waited with his army and flotilla at 
Boulogne, looking for Villeneuve to drive away the English 
cruisers, and secure him a passage across the Channel, so 
Parma, in 1588, waited for Medina Sidonia to drive away the 



1588] DEFEAT OF THE ARMADA 265 

Dutch and English squadrons that watched his flotilla, and 
to enable his veterans to cross the sea to the land that they 
were to conquer. Thanks to Providence, in each case Eng- 
land's enemy waited in vain ! 

Although the numbers of sail which the queen's government 
and the patriotic zeal of volunteers had collected for the 
defense of England exceeded the number of sail in the 
Spanish fleet, the English ships were, collectively, far infe- 
rior in size to their adversaries, their aggregate tonnage 
being less by half than that of the enemy. In the number 
of guns and weight of metal the disproportion was still 
greater. The English admiral was also obliged to subdivide 
his force ; and Lord Henry Seymour, with forty of the best 
Dutch and English ships, was employed in blockading the 
hostile ports in Flanders, and in preventing the Prince of 
Parma from coming out of Dunkirk. 

The orders of King Philip to the Duke of Medina Sidonia 
were that he should, on entering the Channel, keep near the 
French coast, and, if attacked by the English ships, avoid an 
action, and steer on to Calais roads, where the Prince of 
Parma's squadron was to join him. The hope of surprising 
and destroying the English fleet in Plymouth led the Spanish 
admiral to deviate from these orders, and to stand across to 
the English shore ; but, on finding that Lord Howard was 
coming out to meet him, he resumed the original plan, and 
determined to bend his way steadily towards Calais and 
Dunkirk, and to keep merely on the defensive against such 
squadrons of the English as might come up with him. 

It was on Saturday, the 20th of July, that Lord Effingham 
came in sight of his formidable adversaries. The Armada 
was drawn up in form of a crescent, which from horn to 
horn measured some seven miles. There was a southwest 
wind ; and before it the vast vessels sailed slowly on. The 
English let them pass by ; and then, following in the rear, 
commenced an attack on them. A running fight now took 
place, in which some of the best ships of the Spaniards were 
captured ; many more received heavy damage ; while the 
English vessels, which took care not to close with their huge 
antagonists, but availed themselves of their superior celerity 
in tacking and maneuvering, suffered little comparative loss. 



266 DECISIVE BATTLES [1588 

Each day added not only to the spirit, but to the number of 
Effingham's force. Raleigh, Oxford, Cumberland, and Shef- 
field joined him; and "the gentlemen of England hired ships 
from all parts at their own charge, and with one accord came 
flocking thither as to a set field, where glory was to be attained 
and faithful service performed unto their prince and their 
country." 

Raleigh justly praises the English admiral for his skilful 
tactics. He says : " Certainly, he that will happily perform 
a fight at sea must be skilful in making choice of vessels to 
fight in ; he must believe that there is more belonging to a 
good man-of-war upon the waters than great daring; and 
must know that there is a great deal of difference between 
fighting loose or at large and grappling. The guns of a 
slow ship pierce as well and make as great holes as those 
in a swift. To clap ships together, without consideration, 
belongs rather to a madman than to a man-of-war ; for by 
such an ignorant bravery was Peter Strossie lost at the 
Azores, when he fought against the Marquis of Santa Cruza. 
In like sort had the Lord Charles Howard, Admiral of Eng- 
land, been lost in the year 1588, if he had not been better 
advised than a great many malignant fools were, that found 
fault with his demeanor. The Spaniards had an army aboard 
them, and he had none ; they had more ships than he had, 
and of higher building and charging; so that, had he 
entangled himself with those great and powerful vessels, he 
had greatly endangered this kingdom of England. For 
twenty men upon the defences are equal to a hundred that 
board and enter ; whereas then, contrariwise, the Spaniards 
had a hundred for twenty of ours to defend themselves withall. 
But our admiral knew his advantage, and held it : which, had 
he not done, he had not been worthy to have held his head." 

The Spanish admiral also showed great judgment and firm- 
ness in following the line of conduct that had been traced out 
for him ; and on the 27th of July he brought his fleet 
unbroken, though sorely distressed, to anchor in Calais roads. 
But the king of Spain had calculated ill the number and 
activity of the English and Dutch fleets ; as the old historian 
Hakluyt expresses it, " It seemeth that the Duke of Parma 
and the Spaniards grounded upon a vain and presumptuous 



1588] DEFEAT OF THE ARMADA 267 

expectation, that all the ships of England and of the Low 
Countreys would at the first sight of the Spanish and Dun- 
kerk navie have betaken themselves to flight, yeelding them 
sea-room, and endeavoring only to defend themselves, their 
havens, and sea-coasts from invasion. Wherefore their intent 
and purpose was, that the Duke of Parma, in his small and 
flat-bottomed ships should, as it were, under the shadow and 
wings of the Spanish fleet, convey over all his troupes, 
armour, and warlike provisions, and with their forces so 
united, should invade England ; or, while the English 
fleet were busied in fight against the Spanish, should enter 
upon any part of the coast which he thought to be most con- 
venient. Which invasion (as the captives afterwards con- 
fessed) the Duke of Parma thought first to have attempted 
by the river of Thames ; upon the banks whereof, having at 
the first arrivall landed twenty or thirty thousand of his prin- 
cipall souldiers, he supposed that he might easily have wonne 
the citie of London ; both because his small shippes should 
have followed and assisted his land-forces, and also for that 
the citie itselfe was but meanely fortified and easie to ouer- 
come, by reason of the citizens' delicacie and discontinuance 
from the warres, who, with continuall and constant labour, 
might be vanquished, if they yielded not at the first assault." 

But the English and Dutch found ships and mariners 
enough to keep the Armada itself in check and at the same 
time to block up Parma's flotilla. The greater part cff Sey- 
mour's squadron left its cruising-ground off Dunkirk to join 
the English admiral off Calais ; but the Dutch manned about 
five-and-thirty sail of good ships, with a strong force of sol- 
diers on board, all well seasoned to the sea-service, and with 
these they blockaded the Flemish ports that were in Parma's 
power. Still it was resolved by the Spanish admiral and the 
prince to endeavor to effect a junction, which the English 
seamen were equally resolute to prevent ; and bolder measures 
on our side now became necessary. 

The Armada lay off Calais, with its largest ships ranged 
outside, "like strong castles fearing no assault; the lesser 
placed in the middle ward." The English admiral could not 
attack them in their position without great disadvantage ; but 
on the night of the 29th he sent eight fire-ships among them, 



268 DECISIVE BATTLES [1588 

with almost equal effect to that of the fire-ships which the 
Greeks so often employed against the Turkish fleets in their 
late war of independence. The Spaniards cut their cables 
and put to sea in confusion. One of the largest galleasses 
ran foul of another vessel and was stranded. The rest of 
the fleet was scattered about on the Flemish coast, and when 
the morning broke it was with difficulty and delay that they 
obeyed their admiral's signal to range themselves round him 
near Gravelines. Now was the golden opportunity for the 
English to assail them, and prevent them from ever letting 
loose Parma's flotilla against England ; and nobly was that 
opportunity used. Drake and Fenner were the first English 
captains who attacked the unwieldy leviathans ; then came 
Fenton, Southwell, Burton, Cross, Raynor, and then the lord 
admiral, with Lord Thomas Howard and Lord Sheffield. The 
Spaniards only thought of forming and keeping close together, 
and were driven by the English past Dunkirk, and far away 
from the Prince of Parma, who, in watching their defeat from 
the coast, must, as Drake expressed it, have chafed like a 
bear robbed of her whelps. This was indeed the last and 
the decisive battle between the two fleets. It is, perhaps, 
best described in the very words of the contemporary writer 
as we may read them in Hakluyt : — 

"Upon the 29th of July, in the morning, the Spanish fleet, 
after the forsayd tumult, having arranged themselues againe 
into order, were, within sight of Greveling, most bravely and 
furiously encountered by the English ; where they once again 
got the wind of the Spaniards ; who suffered themselues to 
be deprived of the commodity of the place in Caleis road, 
and of the advantage of the wind neer unto Dunkerk, rather 
than they would change their array or separate their forces 
now conjoyned and united together, standing only upon their 
defence. 

"And howbeit there were many excellent and warlike ships 
in the English fleet, yet scarce were there 22 or 23 among 
them all, which matched 90 of the Spanish ships in the big- 
ness, or could conveniently assault them. Wherefore the 
English ships using their prerogative of nimble steerage, 
whereby they could turn and wield themselues with the wind 
which way they listed, came often times very near upon the 



1588] DEFEAT OF THE ARMADA 269 

Spaniards, and charged them so sore, that now and then they 
were but a pike's length asunder : and so continually giving 
them one broadside after another, they discharged all their 
shot both great and small upon them, spending one whole 
day from morning till night in that violent kind of conflict, 
untill such time as powder and bullets failed them. In regard 
of which want they thought it convenient not to pursue the 
Spaniards any longer, because they had many great vantages 
of the English, namely, for the extraordinary bigness of their 
ships, and also for that they were so neerley conjoyned, and 
kept together in so good array, that they could by no means 
be fought withall one to one. The English thought, there- 
fore, that they had right well acquitted themselues, in chasing 
the Spaniards first from Caleis, and then from Dunkerk, and 
by that meanes to have hindered them from joyning with the 
Duke of Parma his forces, and getting the wind of them, to 
have driven them from their own coasts. 

" The Spaniards that day sustained great loss and damage, 
having many of their shippes shot thorow and thorow, and 
they discharged likewise great store of ordinance against the 
English ; who, indeed, sustained some hindrance, but not 
comparable to the Spaniard's loss : for they lost not any one 
ship or person of account, for very diligent inquisition being 
made, the English men all that time wherein the Spanish 
navy sayled upon their seas, are not found to haue wanted 
aboue one hundred of their people : albeit Sir Francis Drake's 
ship was pierced with shot aboue forty times, and his very 
cabben was twice shot thorow, and about the conclusion of 
the fight, the bed of a certaine gentleman lying weary there- 
upon, was taken quite from under him with the force of a 
bullet. Likewise, as the Earle of Northumberland and Sir 
Charles Blunt were at dinner upon a time, the bullet of a 
demy-culverin brake thorow the middest of their cabben, 
touched their feet, and strooke downe two of the standers 
by, with many such accidents befalling the English shippes, 
which it were tedious to rehearse." 

It reflects little credit on the English government that the 
English fleet was so deficiently supplied with ammunition as 
to be unable to complete the destruction of the invaders. But 
enough was done to insure it. Many of the largest Spanish 



2/0 DECISIVE BATTLES [1588 

ships were sunk or captured in the action of this day. And 
at length the Spanish admiral, despairing of success, fled 
northward with a southerly wind, in the hope of rounding 
Scotland, and so returning to Spain without a further en- 
counter with the English fleet. Lord Effingham left a squadron 
to continue the blockade of the Prince of Parma's armament ; 
but that wise general soon withdrew his troops to more promis- 
ing fields of action. Meanwhile the lord admiral himself and 
Drake chased the vincible Armada, as it was now termed, for 
some distance northward ; and then, when it seemed to bend 
away from the Scotch coast towards Norway, it was thought 
best, in the words of Drake, " to leave them to those bois- 
terous and uncouth northern seas." 

The sufferings and losses which the unhappy Spaniards 
sustained in their flight round Scotland and Ireland are well 
known. Of their whole Armada only fifty-three shattered 
vessels brought back their beaten and wasted crews to the 
Spanish coast which they had quitted in such pageantry and 
pride. 

Some passages from the writings of those who took part 
in the struggle have been already quoted ; and the most 
spirited description of the defeat of the Armada which ever 
was penned may perhaps be taken from the letter which our 
brave vice-admiral Drake wrote in answer to some menda- 
cious stories by which the Spaniards strove to hide their shame. 
Thus does he describe the scenes in which he played so im- 
portant a part : — 

" They were not ashamed to publish, in sundry languages 
in print, great victories in words, which they pretended to 
have obtained against this realm, and spread the same in a 
most false sort over all parts of France, Italy, and elsewhere ; 
when, shortly afterwards, it was happily manifested in very 
deed to all nations, how their navy, which they termed invin- 
cible, consisting of one hundred and forty sail of ships, not 
only of their own kingdom, but strengthened with the great- 
est argosies, Portugal carraks, Florentines, and large hulks 
of other countries, were by thirty of her majesty's own ships 
of war, and a few of our own merchants, by the wise, valiant, 
and advantageous conduct of the Lord Charles Howard, high 
admiral of England, beaten and shuffled together even from 



IS88] DEFEAT OF THE ARMADA 2/1 

the Lizard in Cornwall, first to Portland, when they shamefully 
left Don Pedro de Valdez with his mighty ship ; from Port- 
land to Calais, where they lost Hugh de Mongado, with the 
galleys of which he was captain ; and from Calais driven with 
squibs from their anchors, were chased out of the sight of 
England, round about Scotland and Ireland. Where, for the 
sympathy of their religion, hoping to find succour and assist- 
ance, a great part of them were crushed against the rocks, 
and those others that landed, being very many in number, 
were, notwithstanding, broken, slain, and taken ; and so sent 
from village to village, coupled in halters, to be shipped into 
England, where her majesty, of her princely and invincible 
disposition, disdaining to put them to death, and scorning 
either to retain or to entertain them, they were all sent back 
again to their countries, to witness and recount the worthy 
achievement of their invincible and dreadful navy. Of which 
the number of soldiers, the fearful burthen of their ships, the 
commanders' names of every squadron, with all others, their 
magazines of provisions, were put in print, as an army and 
navy irresistible and disdaining prevention : with all which 
their great and terrible ostentation, they did not in all their 
sailing round about England so much as sink or take one 
ship, bark, pinnace, or cockboat of ours, or even burn so 
much as one sheep-cote on this land." 

Synopsis of Events between the Defeat of the Span- 
ish Armada, 1588, and the Battle of Blenheim, 1704 

1594. Henry IV. of France conforms to the Roman Catho- 
lic Church, and ends the civil wars that had long desolated 
France. 

1598. Philip II. of Spain dies, leaving a ruined navy and 
an exhausted kingdom. 

1603. Death of Queen Elizabeth. The Scotch dynasty of 
the Stuarts succeeds to the throne of England. 

1 6 19. Commencement of the Thirty Years' war in Ger- 
many. 

1624 to 1642. Cardinal Richelieu is minister of France. 
He breaks the power of the nobility, reduces the Huguenots 
to complete subjection, and, by aiding the Protestant German 



272 DECISIVE BATTLES [1588 

princes in the latter part of the Thirty Years' war, he humil- 
iates France's ancient rival, Austria. 

1630. Gustavus Adolphus, king of Sweden, marches into 
Germany to the assistance of the Protestants, who were nearly 
crushed by the Austrian armies. He gains several great vic- 
tories, and, after his death, Sweden, under his statesmen and 
generals, continues to take a leading part in the war. 

1640. Portugal throws off the Spanish yoke, and the 
house of Braganza begins to reign. 

1642. Commencement of the civil war in England between 
Charles I. and his parliament. 

1648. The Thirty Years' war in Germany ended by the 
Treaty of Westphalia. 

1653. Oliver Cromwell lord protector of England. 

1660. Restoration of the Stuarts to the English throne. 

1 66 1. Louis XIV. takes the administration of affairs in 
France into his own hands. 

1667 to 1668. Louis XIV. makes war in Spain, and con- 
quers a large part of the Spanish Netherlands. 

1672. Louis makes war upon Holland, and almost over- 
powers it. Charles II. of England is his pensioner, and 
England helps the French in their attacks upon Holland until 
1674. Heroic resistance of the Dutch under the Prince of 
Orange. 

1674. Louis conquers Franche-Comte. 

1679. Peace of Nimeguen. 

1 68 1. Louis invades and occupies Alsace. 

1682. Accession of Peter the Great to the throne of 
Russia. 

1685. Louis commences a merciless persecution of his 
Protestant subjects. 

1688. The Glorious Revolution in England. Expulsion of 
James II. William of Orange is made king of England. 
James takes refuge at the French court, and Louis under- 
takes to restore him. General war in the west of Europe. 

1697. Treaty of Ryswick. Charles XII. becomes king of 
Sweden. 

1700. Charles II. of Spain dies, having bequeathed his do- 
minions to Philip of Anjou, Louis XIV.'s grandson. Defeat 
of the Russians at Narva, by Charles XII. 



1588] DEFEAT OF THE ARMADA 273 

1701. William III. forms a "Grand Alliance" of Austria, 
the Empire, the United Provinces, England, and other powers, 
against France. 

1702. King William dies; but his successor, Queen Anne, 
adheres to the Grand Alliance, and war is proclaimed against 
France. 



274 DECISIVE BATTLES [1704 



CHAPTER XI 

TTie Battle of Blenheim, 1 704 

" The decisive blow struck at Blenheim resounded through every part 
of Europe : it at once destroyed the vast fabric of power which it had 
taken Louis XIV., aided by the talents of Turenne and the genius of Vau- 
ban, so long to construct." — Alison. 

THOUGH more slowly molded and less imposingly vast 
than the empire of Napoleon, the power which Louis 
XIV. had acquired and was acquiring at the commence- 
ment of the eighteenth century was almost equally menacing 
to the general liberties of Europe. If tested by the amount 
of permanent aggrandizement which each procured for France, 
the ambition of the royal Bourbon was more successful than 
were the enterprises of the imperial Corsican. All the prov- 
inces that Bonaparte conquered were rent again from France 
within twenty years from the date when the very earliest of 
them was acquired. France is not stronger by a single city 
or a single acre for all the devastating wars of the Consulate 
and the Empire. But she still possesses Franche-Comt^, 
Alsace, and a part of Flanders. She has still the extended 
boundaries which Louis XIV. gave her. And the royal Span- 
ish marriages, a few years ago, proved clearly how enduring 
has been the political influence which the arts and arms of 
France's " Grand Monarque " obtained for her southward of 
the Pyrenees. 

When Louis XIV. took the reins of government into his own 
hands, after the death of Cardinal Mazarin, there was a union 
of ability with opportunity such as France had not seen since 
the days of Charlemagne. Moreover, Louis's career was no 
brief one. For upwards of forty years, for a period nearly 
equal to the duration of Charlemagne's reign, Louis steadily 
followed an aggressive and generally successful policy. He 
passed a long youth and manhood of triumph before the 



1704] BATTLE OF BLENHEIM 275 

military genius of Marlborough made him acquainted with 
humiliation and defeat. The great Bourbon lived too long. 
He should not have outstayed our two English kings — one his 
dependent, James II., the other his antagonist, William III. 
Had he died in the year within which they died, his reign 
would be cited as unequaled in the French annals for its pros- 
perity. But he lived on to see his armies beaten, his cities 
captured, and his kingdom wasted by disastrous war. It is 
as if Charlemagne had survived to be defeated by the North- 
men and to witness the misery and shame that actually fell 
to the lot of his descendants. 

Still, Louis XIV. had forty years of success ; and from the 
permanence of their fruits we may judge what the results 
would have been if the last fifteen years of his reign had been 
equally fortunate. Had it not been for Blenheim, all Europe 
might at this day suffer under the effect of French conquests 
resembling those of Alexander in extent, and those of the 
Romans in durability. 

When Louis XIV. began to govern, he found all the mate- 
rials for a strong government ready to his hand. Richelieu 
had completely tamed the turbulent spirit of the French 
nobility, and had subverted the " imperium in imperio " of the 
Huguenots. The faction of the Frondeurs in Mazarin's time 
had had the effect of making the Parisian parliament utterly 
hateful and contemptible in the eyes of the nation. The 
Assemblies of the States-General were obsolete. The royal 
authority alone remained. The king was the state. Louis 
knew his position. He fearlessly avowed it, and he fearlessly 
acted up to it. 

Not only was his government a strong one, but the country 
which he governed was strong : strong in its geographical 
situation, in the compactness of its territory, in the number 
and martial spirit of its inhabitants, and in their complete 
and undivided nationality. Louis had neither a Hungary nor 
an Ireland in his dominions. And it was not till late in his 
reign, when old age had made his bigotry more gloomy, and 
had given fanaticism the mastery over prudence, that his per- 
secuting intolerance caused the civil war in the Cevennes. 

Like Napoleon in after-times, Louis XIV. saw clearly that 
the great wants of France were " ships, colonies, and com- 



276 DECISIVE BATTLES [1704 

merce." But Louis did more than see these wants : by the 
aid of his great minister, Colbert, he suppUed them. One of 
the surest proofs of the genius of Louis was his skill in find- 
ing out genius in others, and his promptness in calling it into 
action. Under him, Louvois organized, Turenne, Cond6, Vil- 
lars, and Berwick led the armies of France ; and Vauban 
fortified her frontiers. Throughout his reign, French diplo- 
macy was marked by skilfulness and activity, and also by 
comprehensive far-sightedness, such as the representatives of 
no other nation possessed. Guizot's testimony to the vigor 
that was displayed through every branch of Louis XIV.'s 
government, and to the extent to which France at present is 
indebted to him, is remarkable. He says that, "taking the 
public services of every kind, the finances, the departments 
of roads and public works, the military administration, and all 
the establishments which belong to every branch of adminis- 
tration, there is not one that will not be found to have had its 
origin, its development, or its greatest perfection, under the 
reign of Louis XIV." And he points out to us that " the gov- 
ernment of Louis XIV. was the first that presented itself to 
the eyes of Europe as a power acting upon sure grounds, 
which had not to dispute its existence with inward enemies, 
but was at ease as to its territory and its people, and solely 
occupied with the task of administering government, properly 
so called. All the European governments had been pre- 
viously thrown into incessant wars, which deprived them of 
all security as well as of all leisure, or so harassed by internal 
parties or antagonists that their time was passed in fighting 
for existence. The government of Louis XIV. was the first 
to appear as a busy, thriving administration of affairs, as a 
power at once definitive and progressive, which was not afraid 
to innovate, because it could reckon securely on the future. 
There have been in fact very few governments equally innovat- 
ing. Compare it with a government of the same nature, the 
unmixed monarchy of Philip II. in Spain ; it was more absolute 
than that of Louis XIV., and yet it was far less regular and 
tranquil. How did Philip II. succeed in establishing absolute 
power in Spain ? By stifling all activity in the country, op- 
posing himself to every species of amelioration, and render- 
ing the state of Spain completely stagnant. The government 



I704] BATTLE OF BLENHEIM 277 

of Louis XIV., on the contrary, exhibited alacrity for all sorts 
of innovations, and showed itself favorable to the progress of 
letters, arts, wealth, — in short, of civilization. This was the 
veritable cause of its preponderance in Europe, which arose 
to such a pitch that it became the type of a government not 
only to sovereigns, but also to nations, during the seventeenth 
century." 

While France was thus strong and united in herself, and 
ruled by a martial, an ambitious, and (with all his faults) an 
enlightened and high-spirited sovereign, what European power 
was there fit to cope with her, or keep her in check ? 

" As to Germany, the ambitious projects of the German 
branch of Austria had been entirely defeated, the peace of 
the empire had been restored, and almost a new constitution 
formed, or an old one revived, by the treaties of Westphalia ; 
najy, the imperial eagle was not ojtly fallen, but her wings were 
clipped:' 

As to Spain, the Spanish branch of the Austrian house 
had sunk equally low. Philip II. left his successors a ruined 
monarchy. He left them something worse : he left them his 
example and his principles of government, founded in ambi- 
tion, in pride, in ignorance, in bigotry, and all the pedantry 
of state. 

It is not, therefore, to be wondered at that France, in the 
first war of Louis XIV., despised the opposition of both 
branches of the once predominant house of Austria. Indeed, 
in Germany the French king acquired allies among the 
princes of the empire against the emperor himself. He had 
a still stronger support in Austria's misgovernment of her 
own subjects. The words of Bolingbroke on this are remark- 
able, and some of them sound as if written within the last 
three years. Bolingbroke says : " It was not merely the want 
of cordial cooperation among the princes of the empire that 
disabled the emperor from acting with vigor in the cause of 
his family then, nor that has rendered the house of Austria 
a dead weight upon all her allies ever since. Bigotry, and 
its inseparable companion, cruelty, as well as the tyranny and 
avarice of the court of Vienna, created in those days, and has 
maintained in ours, almost a perpetual diversion of the impe- 
rial arms from all effectual opposition to France. / mean to 



278 DECISIVE BATTLES [1704 

Speak of the troubles hi Hungary. Whatever they became in 
their progress^ they were caused originally by the usurpations 
and persectitions of the emperor; and when the Hutigarians 
were called rebels first, they were called so for no other reason 
than this, that they would not be slaves. The dominion of 
the emperor being less supportable than that of the Turks, 
this unhappy people opened a door to the latter to infest the 
empire, instead of making their country, what it had been 
before, a barrier against the Ottoman power. France became 
a sure though secret ally of the Turks, as well as the Hunga- 
rians, and has found her account in it, by keeping the emperor 
in perpetual alarms on that side, while she has ravaged the 
empire and the Low Countries on the other." 

If, after having seen the imbecility of Germany and Spain 
against the France of Louis XIV., we turn to the two only 
remaining European powers of any importance at that time, 
to England and to Holland, we find the position of our own 
country as to European politics, from 1660 to 1688, most painful 
to contemplate. From 1660 to 1688, " England, by the return 
of the Stuarts, was reduced to a nullity." The words are 
Michelet's, and though severe, they are just. They are, in 
fact, not severe enough ; for when England, under her re- 
stored dynasty of the Stuarts, did take any part in European 
politics, her conduct, or rather her king's conduct, was 
almost invariably wicked and dishonorable. 

Bolingbroke rightly says that, previous to the revolution of 
1688, during the whole progress that Louis XIV. made in 
obtaining such exorbitant power as gave him well-grounded 
hopes of acquiring at last to his family the Spanish monarchy, 
England had been either an idle spectator of what passed on 
the Continent, or a faint and uncertain ally against France, or 
a warm and sure ally on her side, or a partial mediator between 
her and the powers confederated together in their common 
defense. But though the court of England submitted to abet 
the usurpations of France, and the king of England stooped 
to be her pensioner, the crime was not national. On the 
contrary, the nation cried out loudly against it even whilst 
it was being committed. 

Holland alone, of all the European powers, opposed from 
the very beginning a steady and uniform resistance to the 



I704] BATTLE OF BLENHEIM 279 

ambition and power of the French king. It was against 
Holland that the fiercest attacks of France were made, and 
though often apparently on the eve of complete success, they 
were always ultimately baffled by the stubborn bravery of 
the Dutch, and the heroism of their leader, William of 
Orange. When he became king of England, the power 
of this country was thrown decidedly into the scale against 
France ; but though the contest was thus rendered less un- 
equal, though William acted throughout " with invincible 
firmness, like a patriot and a hero," France had the general 
superiority in every war and in every treaty ; and the com- 
mencement of the eighteenth century found the last league 
against her dissolved, all the forces of the confederates 
against her dispersed, and many disbanded; while France 
continued armed, with her veteran forces by sea and land 
increased and held in readiness to act on all sides, when- 
ever the opportunity should arise for seizing on the great 
prizes which, from the very beginning of his reign, had never 
been lost sight of by her king. 

This is not the place for any narrative of the first essay 
which Louis XIV. made of his power in the war of 1667 ; 
of his rapid conquest of Flanders and Franche-Comte ; of the 
Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, which, says Bolingbroke, "was noth- 
ing more than a composition between the bully and the 
bullied"; of his attack on Holland in 1672; of the districts 
and barrier towns of the Spanish Netherlands which were 
secured to him by the Treaty of Nimeguen in 1678 ; of how, 
after this treaty, he " continued to vex both Spain and the 
empire, and to extend his conquests in the Low Countries 
and on the Rhine, both by the pen and the sword ; how he 
took Luxemburg by force, stole Strasburg, and bought 
Casal"; of how the league of Augsburg was formed against 
him in 1686, and the election of William of Orange to the 
English throne in 1688 gave a new spirit to the opposition 
which France encountered ; of the long and checkered war 
that followed, in which the French armies were generally 
victorious on the Continent, though his fleet was beaten at La 
Hogue, and his dependent, James II., was defeated at the 
Boyne, or of the treaty of Ryswick, which left France in pos- 
session of Roussillon, Artois, and Strasburg, which gave 



280 DECISIVE BATTLES [1704 

Europe no security against her claims on the Spanish succes- 
sion, and which Louis regarded as a mere truce, to gain breath- 
ing time before a more decisive struggle. It must be borne 
in mind that the ambition of Louis in these wars was two- 
fold. It had its immediate and its ulterior objects. Its im- 
mediate object was to conquer and annex to France the 
neighboring provinces and towns that were most convenient 
for the increase of her strength ; but the ulterior object of 
Louis, from the time of his marriage to the Spanish Infanta 
in 1659, was to acquire for the house of Bourbon the whole 
empire of Spain. A formal renunciation of all right to the 
Spanish succession had been made at the time of the mar- 
riage ; but such renunciations were never of any practical 
effect, and many casuists and jurists of the age even held 
them to be intrinsically void. As time passed on, and the 
prospect of Charles II. of Spain dying without lineal heirs 
became more and more certain, so did the claims of the house 
of Bourbon to the Spanish crown after his death become 
matters of urgent interest to French ambition on the one 
hand, and to the other powers of Europe on the other. At 
length the unhappy king of Spain died. By his will he 
appointed Philip, Duke of Anjou, one of Louis XIV.'s grand- 
sons, to succeed him on the throne of Spain, and strictly for- 
bade any partition of his dominions. Louis well knew that 
a general European war would follow if he accepted for his 
house the crown thus bequeathed. But he had been pre- 
paring for this crisis throughout his reign. He sent his 
grandson into Spain as King Philip V. of that country, ad- 
dressing to him on his departure the memorable words, 
" There are no longer any Pyrenees." 

The empire, which now received the grandson of Louis as 
its king, comprised, besides Spain itself, the strongest part of 
the Netherlands, Sardinia, Sicily, Naples, the principality of 
Milan, and other possessions in Italy, the Philippine and 
Manilla islands in Asia, and in the New World, besides Cali- 
fornia and Florida, the greatest part of Central and of South- 
ern America. Philip was well received in Madrid, where he 
was crowned as King Philip V. in the beginning of 1701. The 
distant portions of his empire sent in their adhesion ; and the 
house of Bourbon, either by its French or Spanish troops, now 



I704] BATTLE OF BLENHEIM 28 1 

had occupation both of the kingdom of Francis I. and of the 
fairest and amplest portion of the empire of the great rival of 
Francis, Charles V. 

Loud was the wrath of Austria, whose princes were the 
rival claimants of the Bourbons for the empire of Spain. The 
indignation of William III., though not equally loud, was far 
more deep and energetic. By his exertions a league against 
the house of Bourbon was formed between England, Holland, 
and the Austrian emperor, which was subsequently joined by 
the kings of Portugal and Prussia, by the Duke of Savoy, and 
by Denmark. Indeed, the alarm throughout Europe was 
general and urgent. It was clear that Louis aimed at consoli- 
dating France and the Spanish dominions into one prepon- 
derating empire. At the moment when Philip was departing 
to take possession of Spain, Louis had issued letters patent 
in his favor to the effect of preserving his rights to the throne 
of France. And Louis had himself obtained possession of 
the important frontier of the Spanish Netherlands, with its 
numerous fortified cities, which were given up to his troops 
under pretense of securing them for the young king of Spain. 
Whether the formal union of the two crowns was likely to 
take place speedily or not, it was evident that the resources 
of the whole Spanish monarchy were now virtually at the 
French king's disposal. 

The peril that seemed to menace the empire, Eng- 
land, Holland, and the other independent powers, is well 
summed up by Alison : " Spain had threatened the liberties 
of Europe in the end of the sixteenth century, France 
had all but overthrown them in the close of the seven- 
teenth. What hope was there of their being able to make 
head against them both, united under such a monarch as 
Louis XIV. .? " 

Our knowledge of the decayed state into which the Spanish 
power had fallen ought not to make us regard their alarms 
as chimerical. Spain possessed enormous resources, and her 
strength was capable of being regenerated by a vigorous ruler. 
We should remember what Alberoni effected, even after the 
close of the War of Succession. By what that minister did 
in a few years, we may judge what Louis XIV. would have 
done in restoring the maritime and military power of that 



282 DECISIVE BATTLES [1704 

great country which nature has so largely gifted, and which 
man's misgovernment has so debased. 

The death of King William on the 8th of March, 1702, at 
first seemed likely to paralyze the league against France, for 
" notwithstanding the ill success with which he made war 
generally, he was looked upon as the sole center of union 
that could keep together the great confederacy then forming ; 
and how much the French feared from his life had appeared 
a few years before, in the extravagant and indecent joy they 
expressed on a false report of his death. A short time showed 
how vain the fears of some and the hopes of others were." 
[Bolingbroke.] Queen Anne, within three days after her 
accession, went down to the House of Lords, and there 
declared her resolution to support the measures planned by 
her predecessor, who had been " the great support, not only 
of these kingdoms, but of all Europe." Anne was married 
to Prince George of Denmark, and by her accession to the 
English throne the confederacy against Louis obtained the 
aid of the troops of Denmark ; but Anne's strong attachment 
to one of her female friends led to far more important advan- 
tages to the anti-Gallican confederacy than the acquisition of 
many armies, for it gave them Marlborough as their captain- 
general. 

There are few successful commanders on whom Fame has 
shone so unwillingly as upon John Churchill, Duke of Marl- 
borough, Prince of the Holy Roman Empire — victor of Blen- 
heim, Ramilies, Oudenarde, and Malplaquet — captor of Liege, 
Bonn, Limburg, Landau, Ghent, Bruges, Antwerp, Oudenarde, 
Ostend, Menin, Dendermonde, Ath, Lille, Tournay, Mons, 
Douay, Aire, Bethune, and Bouchain ; who never fought a 
battle that he did not win, and never besieged a place that 
he did not take. Marlborough's own private character is the 
cause of this. Military glory may, and too often does, dazzle 
both contemporaries and posterity, until the crimes as well as 
the vices of heroes are forgotten. But even a few stains of 
personal meanness will dim a soldier's reputation irreparably; 
and Marlborough's faults were of a peculiarly base and mean 
order. Our feelings towards historical personages are in this 
respect like our feelings towards private acquaintances. There 
are actions of that shabby nature that, however much they 



1704] BATTLE OF BLENHEIM 283 

may be outweighed by a man's good deeds on a general esti- 
mate of his character, we never can feel any cordial liking for 
the person who has been guilty of them. Thus, with respect 
to the Duke of Marlborough, it goes against our feelings to 
admire the man who owed his first advancement in life to the 
court favor which he and his family acquired through his sis- 
ter becoming one of the mistresses of the Duke of York. It 
is repulsive to know that Marlborough laid the foundation of 
his wealth by being the paid lover of one of the fair and frail 
favorites of Charles II. His treachery and ingratitude to his 
patron and benefactor, James II., stand out in dark relief, 
even in that age of thankless perfidy. He was almost equally 
disloyal to his new master. King William ; and a more un-Eng- 
lish act cannot be recorded than Godolphin's and Marlbor- 
ough's betrayal to the French court in 1694 of the expedition 
then designed against Brest, an act of treason which caused 
some hundreds of English soldiers and sailors to be helplessly 
slaughtered on the beach in Camaret Bay. 

It is, however, only in his military career that we have now 
to consider him ; and there are very few generals, of either 
ancient or modern times, whose campaigns will bear a com- 
parison with those of Marlborough, either for the masterly 
skill with which they were planned, or for the bold yet pru- 
dent energy with which each plan was carried into execution. 
Marlborough had served while young under Turenne, and 
had obtained the marked praise of that great tactician. It 
would be difficult, indeed, to name a single quality which a 
general ought to have, and with which Marlborough was not 
eminently gifted. What principally attracted the notice of 
contemporaries was the imperturbable evenness of his spirit. 
Voltaire says of him : — 

" He had, to a degree above all other generals of his time, 
that calm courage in the midst of tumult, that serenity of soul 
in danger, which the English call a cool head, and it was per- 
haps this quality, the greatest gift of nature for command, 
which formerly gave the English so many advantages over 
the French in the plains of Cressy, Poictiers, and Agincourt." 

King William's knowledge of Marlborough's high abilities, 
though he knew his faithlessness equally well, is said to have 
caused that sovereign in his last illness to recommend Marl- 



284 DECISIVE BATTLES [1704 

borough to his successor as the fittest person to command 
her armies ; but Marlborough's favor with the new queen by 
means of his wife was so high that he was certain of obtain- 
ing the highest employment ; and the war against Louis 
opened to him a glorious theater for the display of those mili- 
tary talents which he had before only had an opportunity of 
exercising in a subordinate character, and on far less con- 
spicuous scenes. 

He was not only made captain-general of the English 
forces at home and abroad, but such was the authority of 
England in the council of the Grand Alliance, and Marl- 
borough was so skilled in winning golden opinions from all 
whom he met with, that, on his reaching the Hague, he was 
received with transports of joy by the Dutch, and it was 
agreed by the heads of that republic, and the minister of the 
emperor, that Marlborough should have the chief command 
of all the allied armies. 

It must indeed, in justice to Marlborough, be borne in 
mind that mere military skill was by no means all that was 
required of him in this arduous and invidious station. Had 
it not been for his unrivaled patience and sweetness of 
temper, and his marvelous ability in discerning the character 
of those with whom he had to act, his intuitive perception 
of those who were to be thoroughly trusted, and of those who 
were to be amused with the mere semblance of respect and 
confidence — had not Marlborough possessed and employed, 
while at the head of the allied armies, all the qualifications 
of a polished courtier and a great statesman, he never would 
have led the allied armies to the Danube. The Confederacy 
would not have held together for a single year. His great 
political adversary, Bolingbroke, does him ample justice here. 
Bolingbroke, after referring to the loss which King William's 
death seemed to inflict on the cause of the Allies, observes 
that : " By his death, the Duke of Marlborough was raised to 
the head of the army, and, indeed, of the confederacy ; where 
he, a new, a private man, a subject, acquired by merit and by 
management a more deciding influence than high birth, con- 
firmed authority, and even the crown of Great Britain had 
given to King William. Not only all the parts of that vast 
machine, the Grand Alliance, were kept more compact and 



1704]^ BATTLE OF BLENHEIM 285 

entire ; but a more rapid and vigorous motion was given to 
the whole ; and instead of languishing and disastrous cam- 
paigns, we saw every scene of the war full of action. All 
those wherein he appeared, and many of those wherein he 
was not then an actor, but abettor, however, of their action, 
were crowned with the most triumphant success. 

" I take with pleasure this opportunity of doing justice to 
that great man, whose faults I knew, whose virtues I admired; 
and whose memory, as the greatest general and as the great- 
est minister that our country, or perhaps any other, has pro- 
duced, I honor." 

War was formally declared by the Allies against France 
on the 4th of May, 1702. The principal scenes of its opera- 
tion were, at first, Flanders, the Upper Rhine, and North 
Italy. Marlborough headed the allied troops in Flanders 
during the first two years of the war, and took some towns 
from the enemy, but nothing decisive occurred. Nor did any 
actions of importance take place during this period between 
the rival armies in Italy. But in the center of that line from 
north to south, from the mouth of the Scheldt to the mouth 
of the Po, along which the war was carried on, the generals 
of Louis XIV. acquired advantages in 1703 which threatened 
one chief member of the Grand Alliance with utter destruction. 
France had obtained the important assistance of Bavaria as 
her confederate in the war. The elector of this powerful 
German state made himself master of the strong fortress of 
Ulm, and opened a communication with the French armies 
on the Upper Rhine. By this junction the troops of Louis 
were enabled to assail the emperor in the very heart of 
Germany. In the autumn of the year 1703, the combined 
armies of the elector and French king completely defeated 
the Imperialists in Bavaria ; and in the following winter they 
made themselves masters of the important cities of Augsburg 
and Passau. Meanwhile the French army of the Upper 
Rhine and Moselle had beaten the allied armies opposed to 
them, and taken Treves and Landau. At the same time the 
discontents in Hungary with Austria again broke out into 
open insurrection, so as to distract the attention and complete 
the terror of the emperor and his council at Vienna. 

Louis XIV. ordered the next campaign to be commenced 



286 DECISIVE BATTLES [1704 

by his troops on a scale of grandeur and with a boldness of 
enterprise such as even Napoleon's military schemes have 
seldom equaled. On the extreme left of the line of the war, 
in the Netherlands, the French armies were to act only on 
the defensive. The fortresses in the hands of the French 
there were so many and so strong that no serious impression 
seemed likely to be made by the Allies on the French frontier 
in that quarter during one campaign ; and that one campaign 
was to give France such triumphs elsewhere as would (it was 
hoped) determine the war. Large detachments were, there- 
fore, to be made from the French force in Flanders, and they 
were to be led by Marshal Villeroy to the Moselle and Upper 
Rhine. The French army already in the neighborhood of 
those rivers was to march under Marshal Tallard through the 
Black Forest, and join the Elector of Bavaria and the French 
troops that were already with the elector under Marshal Mar- 
sin. Meanwhile the French army of Italy was to advance 
through the Tyrol into Austria, and the whole forces were to 
combine between the Danube and the Inn. A strong body 
of troops was to be despatched into Hungary, to assist and 
organize the insurgents in that kingdom ; and the French 
grand army of the Danube was then, in collected and irre- 
sistible might, to march upon Vienna, and dictate terms of 
peace to the emperor. High military genius was shown in 
the formation of this plan, but it was met and baffled by a 
genius higher still. 

Marlborough had watched, with the deepest anxiety, the 
progress of the French arms on the Rhine and in Bavaria, 
and he saw the futility of carrying on a war of posts and sieges 
in Flanders while death-blows to the empire were being dealt 
on the Danube. He resolved, therefore, to let the war in 
Flanders languish for a year, while he moved with all the dis- 
posable forces that he could collect to the central scenes of 
decisive operations. Such a march was in itself difficult, but 
Marlborough had, in the first instance, to overcome the still 
greater difficulty of obtaining the consent and cheerful co- 
operation of the Allies, especially of the Dutch, whose frontier 
it was proposed thus to deprive of the larger part of the force 
which had hitherto been its protection. Fortunately, among 
the many slothful, the many foolish, the many timid, and the 



1704] BATTLE OF BLENHEIM 287 

not few treacherous rulers, statesmen, and generals of different 
nations with whom he had to deal, there were two men, emi- 
nent both in ability and integrity, who entered fully into Marl- 
borough's projects, and who, from the stations which they 
occupied, were enabled materially to forward them. One of 
these was the Dutch statesman Heinsius, who had been the 
cordial supporter of King William, and who now, with equal 
zeal and good faith, supported Marlborough in the councils 
of the Allies ; the other was the celebrated general. Prince 
Eugene, whom the Austrian cabinet had recalled from the 
Italian frontier, to take the command of one of the emperor's 
armies in Germany. To these two great men, and a few 
more, Marlborough communicated his plan freely and unre- 
servedly ; but to the general councils of his allies he only dis- 
closed part of his daring scheme. He proposed to the Dutch 
that he should march from Flanders to the Upper Rhine and 
Moselle with the British troops and part of the foreign auxili- 
aries, and commence vigorous operations against the French 
armies in that quarter, while General Auverquerque, with the 
Dutch and the remainder of the auxiliaries, maintained a 
defensive war in the Netherlands. Having with difficulty 
obtained the consent of the Dutch to this portion of his proj- 
ect, he exercised the same diplomatic zeal, with the same 
success, in urging the king of Prussia, and other princes of 
the empire, to increase the number of the troops which they 
supplied, and to post them in places convenient for his own 
intended movements. 

Marlborough commenced his celebrated march on the 19th j-n /ji/ 
of May. The army which he was to lead had been assembled 
by his brother, General Churchill, at Bedburg, not far from 
Maestricht, on the Meuse ; it included sixteen thousand Eng- 
lish troops, and consisted of fifty-one battalions of foot and 
ninety-two squadrons of horse. Marlborough was to collect 
and join with him on his march the troops of Prussia, Lune- 
burg, and Hesse, quartered on the Rhine, and eleven Dutch 
battalions that were stationed at Rothweil. He had only 
marched a single day, when a series of interruptions, com- 
plaints, and requisitions from the other leaders of the Allies 
began, to which he seemed doomed throughout his enterprise, 
and which would have caused its failure in the hands of any 



288 DECISIVE BATTLES . [1704 

one not gifted with the firmness and the exquisite temper of 
Marlborough. One specimen of these annoyances and Marl- 
borough's mode of dealing with them may suffice. On his 
encamping at Kupen, on the 20th, he received an express 
from Auverquerque pressing him to halt, because Villeroy, 
who commanded the French army in Flanders, had quitted 
the lines which he had been occupying, and crossed the Meuse 
at Namur with thirty-six battalions and forty-five squadrons, 
and was threatening the town of Huys. At the same time 
Marlborough received letters from the Margrave of Baden 
and Count Wratislaw, who commanded the Imperialist forces 
at Stollhoffen, near the left bank of the Rhine, stating that 
Tallard had made a movement as if intending to cross the 
Rhine, and urging him to hasten his march towards the lines 
of Stollhoffen. Marlborough was not diverted by these appli- 
cations from the prosecution of his grand design. Conscious 
that the army of Villeroy would be too much reduced to under- 
take offensive operations by the detachments which had 
already been made towards the Rhine and those which must 
follow his own march, he halted only a day to quiet the alarms 
of Auverquerque. To satisfy also the margrave he ordered 
the troops of Hompesch and Bulow to draw towards Philips- 
burg, though with private injunctions not to proceed beyond 
a certain distance. He even exacted a promise to the same 
effect from Count Wratislaw, who at this juncture arrived at 
the camp to attend him during the whole campaign. 

Marlborough reached the Rhine at Coblentz, where he 
crossed that river, and then marched along its right bank to 
Broubach and Mentz. His march, though rapid, was admira- 
bly conducted, so as to save the troops from all unnecessary 
fatigue; ample supplies of provisions were ready, and the 
most perfect discipline was maintained. By degrees Marl- 
borough obtained more reenforcements from the Dutch and 
the other confederates, and he also was left more at liberty 
by them to follow his own course. Indeed, before even a 
blow was struck, his enterprise had paralyzed the enemy, and 
had materially relieved Austria from the pressure of the war. 
Villeroy, with his detachments from the French-Flemish army, 
was completely bewildered by Marlborough's movements; 
and, unable to divine where it was that the English general 



1704] BATTLE OF BLENHEIM 289 

meant to strike his blow, wasted away the early part of the 
summer between Flanders and the Moselle without effecting 
anything.^ 

Marshal Tallard, who commanded forty-five thousand men 
at Strasburg, and who had been destined by Louis to march 
early in the year into Bavaria, thought that Marlborough's 
march along the Rhine was preliminary to an attack upon 
Alsace ; and the marshal therefore kept his forty-five thousand 
men back in order to support France in that quarter. Marl- 
borough skilfully encouraged his apprehensions by causing a 
bridge to be constructed across the Rhine at Philipsburg, and 
by making the Landgrave of Hesse advance his artillery at 
Mannheim, as if for a siege of Landau. Meanwhile the Elector 
of Bavaria and Marshal Marsin, suspecting that Marlborough's 
design might be what it really proved to be, forbore to press 
upon the Austrians opposed to them, or to send troops into 
Hungary ; and they kept back so as to secure their communi- 
cations with France. Thus, when Marlborough, at the begin- 
ning of June, left the Rhine and marched for the Danube, 
the numerous hostile armies were uncombined, and unable to 
check him. 

" With such skill and science had this enterprise been con- 
certed that at the very moment when it assumed a specific 
direction the enemy was no longer enabled to render it abor- 
tive. As the march was now to be bent towards the Danube, 
notice was given for the Prussians, Palatines, and Hessians, 
who were stationed on the Rhine, to order their march so as 
to join the main body in its progress. At the same time 
directions were sent to accelerate the advance of the Danish 
auxiliaries who were marching from the Netherlands." 
[Coxe.] 

Crossing the river Neckar, Marlborough marched in a south- 
eastern direction to Mundelshene, where he had his first per- 
sonal interview with Prince Eugene, who was destined to be 
his colleague "on so many glorious fields. Thence, through a 
difficult and dangerous country, Marlborough continued his 
march against the Bavarians, whom he encountered on the 
2d of July, on the heights of the Schullenberg, near Donau- 
wert. Marlborough stormed their entrenched camp, crossed 
the Danube, took several strong places in Bavaria, and made 



290 DECISIVE BATTLES [1704 

himself completely master of the elector's dominions, except 
the fortified cities of Munich and Augsburg. But the elector's 
army, though defeated at Donauwert, was still numerous and 
strong; and at last Marshal Tallard, when thoroughly 
apprised of the real nature of Marlborough's movements, 
crossed the Rhine. He was suffered, through the supineness 
of the German general at Stollhoffen, to march without loss 
through the Black Forest, and united his powerful army at 
Biberach near Augsburg with that of the elector and the 
French troops under Marshal Marsin, who had previously 
been cooperating with the Bavarians. On the other hand, 
Marlborough recrossed the Danube, and on the nth of 
August united his army with the Imperialist forces under 
Prince Eugene. The combined armies occupied a position 
near Hochstadt, a little higher up the left bank of the Danube 
than Donauwert, the scene of Marlborough's recent victory, 
and almost exactly on the ground where Marshal Villars and 
the elector had defeated an Austrian army in the preceding 
year. The French marshals and the elector were now in 
position a little farther to the east, between Blenheim and 
Lutzingen, and with the little stream of the Nebel between 
them and the troops of Marlborough and Eugene. The 
Gallo-Bavarian army consisted of about sixty thousand men, 
and had sixty-one pieces of artillery. The army of the Allies 
was about fifty-six thousand strong, with fifty-two guns.^ 

Although the French army of Italy had been unable to 
penetrate into Austria, and although the masterly strategy of 
Marlborough had hitherto warded off the destruction with 
which the cause of the Allies seemed menaced at the begin- 
ning of the campaign, the peril was still most serious. It 
was absolutely necessary for Marlborough to attack the 
enemy before Villeroy should be roused into action. There 
was nothing to stop that general and his army from marching 
into Franconia, whence the Allies drew their principal sup- 
plies ; and, besides thus distressing them, he might, by march- 
ing on and joining his army to those of Tallard and the 
elector, form a mass which would overwhelm the force under 
Marlborough and Eugene. On the other hand, the chances 
of a battle seemed perilous, and the fatal consequences of a 
defeat were certain. The inferiority of the Allies in point of 



1704] BATTLE OF BLENHEIM 29 1 

number was not very great, but still it was not to be disre- 
garded ; and the advantage which the enemy seemed to have 
in the composition of their troops was striking. Tallard and 
Marsin had forty-five thousand Frenchmen under them, all 
veterans, and all trained to act together : the elector's own 
troops, also, were good soldiers. Marlborough, Hke Welling- 
ton at Waterloo, headed an army, of which the larger propor- 
tion consisted not of English, but of men of many different 
nations and many different languages. He was also obliged 
to be the assailant in the action, and thus to expose his troops 
to comparatively heavy loss at the commencement of the 
battle, while the enemy would fight under the protection of 
the villages and lines which they were actively engaged in 
strengthening. The consequences of a defeat of the confed- 
erated army must have broken up the Grand Alliance and 
realized the proudest hopes of the French king. Mr. Alison, 
in his admirable military history of the Duke of Marlborough, 
has truly stated the effects which would have taken place if 
France had been successful in the war. And when the posi- 
tion of the confederates at the time when Blenheim was 
fought is remembered ; when we recollect the exhaustion of 
Austria, the menacing insurrection of Hungary, the feuds 
and jealousies of the German princes, the strength and activ- 
ity of the Jacobite party in England, the imbecility of nearly 
all the Dutch statesmen of the time, and the weakness of 
Holland if deprived of her allies, we may adopt his words in 
speculating on what would have ensued if France had been 
victorious in the battle, and "if a power animated by the 
ambition, guided by the fanaticism, and directed by the ability 
of that of Louis XIV. had gained the ascendency in Europe. 
Beyond all question, a universal despotic dominion would 
have been established over the bodies, a cruel spiritual thral- 
dom over the minds of men. France and Spain united under 
Bourbon princes, and in a close family alliance — the empire 
of Charlemagne with that of Charles V. ; the power which 
revoked the Edict of Nantes and perpetrated the massacre of 
St. Bartholomew, with that which banished the Moriscoes 
and established the Inquisition, would have proved irresisti- 
ble, and beyond example destructive to the best interests of 
mankind. 



292 DECISIVE BATTLES [1704 

" The Protestants might have been driven, like the pagan 
heathens of old by the son of Pepin, beyond the Elbe ; the 
Stuart race, and with them Romish ascendency, might have 
been reestablished in England ; the fire lighted by Latimer 
and Ridley might have been extinguished in blood ; and the 
energy breathed by religious freedom into the Anglo-Saxon 
race might have expired. The destinies of the world would 
have been changed. Europe, instead of a variety of independ- 
ent states whose mutual hostility kept alive courage while 
their national rivalry stimulated talent, would have sunk into 
the slumber attendant on universal dominion. The colonial 
empire of England would have withered away and perished, 
as that of Spain has done in the grasp of the Inquisition. 
The Anglo-Saxon race would have been arrested in its mission 
to overspread the earth and subdue it. The centralized des- 
potism of the Roman empire would have been renewed on 
Continental Europe ; the chains of Romish tyranny, and with 
them the general infidelity of France before the Revolution, 
would have extinguished or perverted thought in the British 
islands." 

Marlborough's words at the council of war, when a battle 
was resolved on, are remarkable, and they deserve recording. 
We know them on the authority of his chaplain, Mr. (after- 
wards Bishop) Hare, who accompanied him throughout the 
campaign, and in whose journal the biographers of Marl- 
borough have found many of their best materials. Marl- 
borough's words to the officers who remonstrated with him 
on the seeming temerity of attacking the enemy in their 
position were, " I know the danger, yet a battle is absolutely 
necessary ; and I rely on the bravery and discipline of the 
troops, which will make amends for our disadvantages." In 
the evening orders were issued for a general engagement, 
and received by the army with an alacrity which justified his 
confidence. 

The French and Bavarians were posted behind a little 
stream called the Nebel, which runs almost from north to 
south into the Danube immediately in front of the village of 
Blenheim. The Nebel flows along a little valley, and the 
French occupied the rising ground to the west of it. The 
village of Blenheim was the extreme right of their position, 



1704] BATTLE OF BLENHEIM 293 

and the village of Lutzingen, about three miles north of 
Blenheim, formed their left. Beyond Lutzingen are the 
rugged high grounds of the Godd Berg, and Eich Berg, on 
the skirts of which some detachments were posted so as to 
secure the Gallo-Bavarian position from being turned on the 
left flank. The Danube protected their right flank; and it 
was only in front that they could be attacked. The villages 
of Blenheim and Lutzingen had been strongly palisaded and 
entrenched. Marshal Tallard, who held the chief command, 
took his station at Blenheim ; Prince Maximilian the Elector 
and Marshal Marsin commanded on the left. Tallard gar- 
risoned Blenheim with twenty-six battalions of French infantry 
and twelve squadrons of French cavalry. Marsin and the 
elector had twenty-two battalions of infantry, and thirty-six 
squadrons of cavalry in front of the village of Lutzingen. 
The center was occupied by fourteen battalions of infantry, 
including the celebrated Irish brigade. These were posted 
in the little hamlet of Oberglau, which lies somewhat nearer 
to Lutzingen than to Blenheim. Eighty squadrons of cavalry 
and seven battalions of foot were ranged between Ober- 
glau and Blenheim. Thus the French position was very 
strong at each extremity, but was comparatively weak in 
the center. Tallard seems to have relied on the swampy 
state of the part of the valley that reaches from below Ober- 
glau to Blenheim for preventing any serious attack on this 
part of his line. 

The army of the Allies was formed into two great divisions; 
the largest being commanded by the duke in person, and 
being destined to act against Tallard, while Prince Eugene 
led the other division, which consisted chiefly of cavalry, and 
was intended to oppose the enemy under Marsin and the 
elector. As they approached the enemy, Marlborough's 
troops formed the left and the center, while Eugene's formed 
the right of the entire army. Early in the morning of the 
13th of August, the Allies left their own camp and marched 
towards the enemy. A thick haze covered the ground, and 
it was not until the allied right and center had advanced 
nearly within cannon-shot of the enemy that Tallard was 
aware of their approach. He made his preparations with 
what haste he could, and about eight o'clock a heavy fire of 



294 DECISIVE BATTLES [1704 

artillery was opened from the French right on the advancing 
left wing of the British. Marlborough ordered up some of 
his batteries to reply to it, and while the columns that were 
to form the allied left and center deployed, and took up their 
proper stations in the line, a warm cannonade was kept up 
by the guns on both sides. 

The ground which Eugene's columns had to traverse was 
peculiarly difficult, especially for the passage of the artillery ; 
and it was nearly midday before he could get his troops into 
line opposite to Lutzingen. During this interval, Marl- 
borough ordered divine service to be performed by the chap- 
lains at the head of each regiment, and then rode along the 
lines, and found both officers and men in the highest spirits, 
and waiting impatiently for the signal for the attack. At 
length an aide-de-camp galloped up from the right with the 
welcome news that Eugene was ready. Marlborough instantly 
sent Lord Cutts, with a strong brigade of infantry, to assault 
the village of Blenheim, while he himself led the main body 
down the eastward slope of the valley of the Nebel, and pre- 
pared to effect the passage of the stream. 

The assault on Blenheim, though bravely made, was repulsed 
with severe loss ; and Marlborough, finding how strongly that 
village was garrisoned, desisted from any further attempts to 
carry it, and bent all his energies to breaking the enemy's line 
between Blenheim and Oberglau. Some temporary bridges 
had been prepared, and planks and fascines had been col- 
lected ; and by the aid of these, and a little stone bridge which 
crossed the Nebel, near a hamlet called Unterglau, that lay in 
the center of the valley, Marlborough succeeded in getting 
several squadrons across the Nebel, though it was divided into 
several branches, and the ground between them was soft and 
in places little better than a mere marsh. But the French 
artillery was not idle. The cannon-balls plunged incessantly 
among the advancing squadrons of the Allies ; and bodies of 
French cavalry rode frequently down from the western ridge, 
to charge them before they had time to form on the firm 
ground. It was only by supporting his men by fresh troops, 
and by bringing up infantry, who checked the advance of the 
enemy's horse by their steady fire, that Marlborough was able 
to save his army in this quarter from a repulse, which, follow- 



1704] BATTLE OF BLENHEIM 295 

ing the failure of the attack upon Blenheim, would probably 
have been fatal to the Allies. By degrees his cavalry strug- 
gled over the blood-stained streams ; the infantry were also 
now brought across, so as to keep in check the French troops 
who held Blenheim, and who, when no longer assailed in 
front, had begun to attack the Allies on their left with con- 
siderable effect. 

Marlborough had thus at last succeeded in drawing up the 
whole left wing of his army beyond the Nebel, and was about 
to press forward with it, when he was called away to another 
part of the field by a disaster that had befallen his center. 
The Prince of Holstein-Beck had, with eleven Hanoverian bat- 
talions, passed the Nebel opposite to Oberglau, when he was 
charged and utterly routed by the Irish brigade which held 
that village. The Irish drove the Hanoverians back with 
heavy slaughter, broke completely through the line of the 
Allies, and nearly achieved a success as brilliant as that which 
the same brigade afterwards gained at Fontenoy. But at 
Blenheim their ardor in pursuit led them too far. Marl- 
borough came up in person, and dashed in upon their exposed 
flank with some squadrons of British cavalry. The Irish 
reeled back, and as they strove to regain the height of Ober- 
glau, their column was raked through and through by the fire 
of three battalions of the Allies, which Marlborough had 
summoned up from the reserve. Marlborough having re- 
established the order and communication of the Allies in this 
quarter, now, as he returned to his own left wing, sent to learn 
how his colleague fared against Marsin and the elector, and 
to inform Eugene of his own success. 

Eugene had hitherto not been equally fortunate. He had 
made three attacks on the enemy opposed to him, and had 
been thrice driven back. It was only by his own desperate 
personal exertions, and the remarkable steadiness of the regi- 
ments of Prussian infantry which were under him, that he 
was able to save his wing from being totally defeated. But 
it was on the southern part of the battle-field, on the ground 
which Marlborough had won beyond the Nebel with such 
difficulty, that the crisis of the battle was to be decided. 

Like Hannibal, Marlborough relied principally on his cavalry 
for achieving his decisive successes, and it was by his cavalry 



296 DECISIVE BATTLES [1704 

that Blenheim, the greatest of his victories, was won. The 
battle had lasted till five in the afternoon. Marlborough had 
now eight thousand horsemen drawn up in two lines, and in 
the most perfect order for a general attack on the enemy's 
line along the space between Blenheim and Oberglau. The 
infantry was drawn up in battalions in their rear, so as to sup- 
port them if repulsed, and to keep in check the large masses 
of the French that still occupied the village of Blenheim. 
Tallard now interlaced his squadrons of cavalry with battalions 
of infantry ; and Marlborough, by a corresponding movement, 
brought several regiments of infantry and some pieces of 
artillery to his front line, at intervals between the bodies of 
horse. A little after five, Marlborough commenced the decisive 
movement, and the allied cavalry, strengthened and supported 
by foot and guns, advanced slowly from the lower ground 
near the Nebel up the slope to where the French cavalry, 
ten thousand strong, awaited them. On riding over the sum- 
mit of the acclivity, the Allies were received with so hot a fire 
from the French artillery and small arms that at first the 
cavalry recoiled, but without abandoning the high ground. 
The guns and the infantry which they had brought with them 
maintained the contest with spirit and effect. The French 
fire seemed to slacken. Marlborough instantly ordered a 
charge along the line. The allied cavalry galloped forward 
at the enemy's squadrons, and the hearts of the French horse- 
men failed them. Discharging their carbines at an idle dis- 
tance, they wheeled round and spurred from the field, leaving 
the nine infantry battalions of their comrades to be ridden 
down by the torrent of the allied cavalry. The battle was 
now won. Tallard and Marsin, severed from each other, 
thought only of retreat. Tallard drew up the squadrons of 
horse which he had left, in a line extended towards Blenheim, 
and sent orders to the infantry in that village to leave and join 
him without delay. But long ere his orders could be obeyed 
the conquering squadrons of Marlborough had wheeled to the 
left and thundered down on the feeble army of the French 
marshal. Part of the force which Tallard had drawn up for 
this last effort were driven into the Danube ; part fled with 
their general to the village of Sonderheim, where they were 
soon surrounded by the victorious Allies and compelled to 



1704] BATTLE OF BLENHEIM 297 

surrender. Meanwhile, Eugene had renewed his attack upon 
the Gallo-Bavarian left, and Marsin, finding his colleague 
utterly routed, and his own right flank uncovered, prepared to 
retreat. He and the elector succeeded in withdrawing a con- 
siderable part of their troops in tolerable order to Dillingen ; 
but the large body of French who garrisoned Blenheim were 
left exposed to certain destruction. Marlborough speedily 
occupied all the outlets from the village with his victorious 
troops, and then, collecting his artillery round it, he com- 
menced a cannonade that speedily would have destroyed Blen- 
heim itself and all who were in it. After several gallant but 
unsuccessful attempts to cut their way through the Allies, the 
French in Blenheim were at length compelled to surrender 
at discretion ; and twenty-four battalions, and twelve squad- 
rons, with all their officers, laid down their arms and became 
the captives of Marlborough. 

"Such," said Voltaire, "was the celebrated battle which 
the French call the battle of Hochstet, the Germans Plentheim, 
and the English Blenheim. The conquerors had about five 
thousand killed and eight thousand wounded, the greater 
part being on the side of Prince Eugene. The French army 
was almost entirely destroyed : of sixty thousand men, so long 
victorious, there never reassembled more than twenty thousand 
effective. About twelve thousand killed, fourteen thousand 
prisoners, all the cannon, a prodigious number of colors and 
standards, all the tents and equipages, the general of the 
army, and one thousand two hundred officers of mark in the 
power of the conqueror, signalized that day ! " 

Ulm, Landau, Treves, and Traerbach surrendered to the 
allies before the close of the year. Bavaria submitted to the 
emperor, and the Hungarians laid down their arms. Germany 
was completely delivered from France ; and the military as- 
cendency of the arms of the Allies was completely established. 
Throughout the rest of the war Louis fought only in defense. 
Blenheim had dissipated forever his once proud visions of 
almost universal conquest. 

Notes 

1 " Marshal Villeroy," says Voltaire. " who had wished to follow Marl- 
borough on his first marches, suddenly lost sight of him altogether and 



298 DECISIVE BATTLES [1704 

only learned where he really was on hearing of his victory at Donauwert." 
— Steele de Louis XIV. 

"^ A short time before the War of the Succession the musket and bayonet 
had been made the arms of all the French infantry. It had formerly been 
usual to mingle pikemen with musketeers. The other European nations 
followed the example of France, and the weapons used at Blenheim were 
substantially the same as those still employed. 

Synopsis of Events between the Battle of Blenheim, 
1704, AND THE Battle of Pultowa, 1709 

1705. The Archduke Charles lands in Spain with a small 
English army under Lord Peterborough, who takes Barcelona. 

1706. Marlborough's victory at Ramilies. 

1707. The English army in Spain is defeated at the battle 
of Almanza. 

1708. Marlborough's victory at Oudenarde. 



1709] BATTLE OF PULTOWA 299 



CHAPTER XII 

The Battle of Pultowa, 1 709 

" Dread Pultowa's day, 

When fortune left the royal Swede, 
Around a slaughtered army lay, 

No more to combat and to bleed. 
The power and fortune of the war 
Had passed to the triumphant Czar." — Byron. 

NAPOLEON prophesied at St. Helena that all Europe 
would soon be either Cossack or Republican. Four 
years ago, the fulfilment of the last of these alterna- 
tives appeared most probable. But the democratic move- 
ments of 1848 were sternly repressed in 1849. The absolute 
authority of a single ruler, and the austere stillness of martial 
law, are now paramount in the capitals of the Continent, 
which lately owned no sovereignty save the will of the multi- 
tude, and where that which the democrat calls his sacred right 
of insurrection was so loudly asserted and so often fiercely 
enforced. Many causes have contributed to bring about this 
reaction, but the most effective and the most permanent have 
been Russian influence and Russian arms. Russia is now 
the avowed and acknowledged champion of Monarchy against 
Democracy — of constituted authority, however acquired, 
against revolution and change, for whatever purpose desired ; 
of the imperial supremacy of strong states over their weaker 
neighbors against all claims for political independence and all 
striving for separate nationality. She has crushed the heroic 
Hungarians ; and Austria, for whom nominally she crushed 
them, is now one of her dependents. Whether the rumors of 
her being about to engage in fresh enterprises be well or ill 
founded, it is certain that recent events must have fearfully 
augmented the power of the Muscovite empire, which, even 



300 DECISIVE BATTLES [1709 

previously, had been the object of well-founded anxiety to all 
Western Europe. 

It was truly stated, twelve years ago, that " the acquisitions 
which Russia has made within the [then] last sixty-four years 
are equal in extent and importance to the whole empire she 
had in Europe before that time ; that the acquisitions she has 
made from Sweden are greater than what remains of that 
ancient kingdom ; that her acquisitions from Poland are as 
large as the whole Austrian empire; that the territory she 
has wrested from Turkey in Europe is equal to the dominions 
of Prussia, exclusive of her Rhenish provinces ; and that her 
acquisitions from Turkey in Asia are equal in extent to all the 
smaller states of Germany, the Rhenish provinces of Prussia, 
Belgium, and Holland taken together ; that the country she has 
conquered from Persia is about the size of England ; that her ac- 
quisitions in Tartary have an area equal to Turkey in Europe, 
Greece, Italy, and Spain. In sixty-four years she has advanced 
her frontier eight hundred and fifty miles towards Vienna, Ber- 
lin, Dresden, Munich, and Paris; she has approached four 
hundred and fifty miles nearer to Constantinople; she has pos- 
sessed herself of the capital of Poland, and has advanced 
to within a few miles of the capital of Sweden, from which, 
when Peter the Great mounted the throne, her frontier was 
distant three hundred miles. Since that time she has stretched 
herself forward about one thousand miles towards India, and 
the same distance towards the capital of Persia." 

Such, at that period, had been the recent aggrandizement 
of Russia ; and the events of the last few years, by weakening 
and disuniting all her European neighbors, have immeasurably 
augmented the relative superiority of the Muscovite empire 
over all the other Continental powers. 

With a population exceeding sixty millions, all implicitly 
obeying the impulse of a single ruling mind ; with a territorial 
area of six millions and a half of square miles ; with a stand- 
ing army eight hundred thousand strong ; with powerful fleets 
on the Baltic and Black seas ; with a skilful host of diplomatic 
agents planted in every court and among every tribe ; with the 
confidence which unexpected success creates, and the sagacity 
\f j which long experience fosters, Russia now grasps with an 
armed right hand the tangled thread of European politics 



1709] BATTLE OF PULTOWA 301 

and issues her mandate as the arbitress of the movements of 
the age. Yet a century and a half have hardly elapsed since 
she was first recognized as a member of the drama of modern 
European history — previously to the battle of Pultowa, Russia 
played no part. Charles V. and his great rival, our Elizabeth 
and her adversary, Philip of Spain, the Guises, Sully, Riche- 
lieu, Cromwell, De Witt, William of Orange, and the other lead- 
ing spirits of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, thought 
no more about the Muscovite czar than we now think about the 
king of Timbuctoo. Even as late as 1735, Lord Bolingbroke, 
in his admirable " Letters on History," speaks of the history 
of the Muscovites as having no relation to the knowledge 
which a practical English statesman ought to acquire. It may 
be doubted whether a cabinet council often takes place now in 
our Foreign Office without Russia being uppermost in every 
English statesman's thoughts. 

But though Russia remained thus long unheeded amid her 
snows, there was a northern power the influence of which 
was acknowledged in the principal European quarrels, and 
whose good- will was sedulously courted by many of the bold- 
est chiefs and ablest councilors of the leading states. This 
was Sweden ; Sweden, on whose ruins Russia has risen, but 
whose ascendency over her semibarbarous neighbors was com- 
plete until the fatal battle that now forms our subject. 

As early as 1 542 France had sought the alliance of Sweden 
to aid her in her struggle against Charles V. And the name 
of Gustavus Adolphus is of itself sufficient to remind us that 
in the great contest for religious liberty of which Germany was 
for thirty years the arena, it was Sweden that rescued the fall- 
ing cause of Protestantism ; and it was Sweden that princi- 
pally dictated the remodeling of the European state system 
at the peace of Westphalia. 

From the proud preeminence in which the valor of the 
" Lion of the North," and of Torstenston, Bannier, Wrangel, 
and the other generals of Gustavus, guided by the wisdom of 
Oxenstiern, had placed Sweden, the defeat of Charles XIL at 
Pultowa hurled her down at once and forever. Her efforts dur- 
ing the wars of the French Revolution to assume a leading part 
in European politics met with instant discomfiture, and almost 
provoked derision. But the Sweden whose scepter was be- 



302 DECISIVE BATTLES [1709 

queathed to Christina, and whose alliance Cromwell valued 
so highly, was a different power from the Sweden of the pres- 
ent day. Finland, Ingria, Livonia, Esthonia, Carelia, and other 
districts east of the Baltic then were Swedish provinces; and 
the possession of Pomerania, Rugen, and Bremen made her 
an important member of the Germanic empire. These terri- 
tories are now all reft from her ; and the most valuable of them 
form the staple of her victorious rival's strength. Could she 
resume them, could the Sweden of 1648 be reconstructed, we 
should have a first-class Scandinavian state in the north, 
well qualified to maintain the balance of power and check 
the progress of Russia ; whose power, indeed, never could 
have become formidable to Europe save by Sweden becom- 
ing weak. 

The decisive triumph of Russia over Sweden at Pultowa 
was therefore all-important to the world, on account of what 
it overthrew as well as for what it established ; and it is the 
more deeply interesting because it was not merely the crisis 
of a struggle between two states, but it was a trial of strength 
between two great races of mankind. We must bear in 
mind that while the Swedes, like the English, the Dutch, and 
others, belong to the Germanic race, the Russians are a 
Sclavonic people. Nations of Sclavonian origin have long 
occupied the greater part of Europe eastward of the Vistula, 
and the populations also of Bohemia, Croatia, Servia, Dalma- 
tia, and other important regions westward of that river are 
Sclavonic. In the long and varied conflicts between them 
and the Germanic nations that adjoin them, the Germanic 
race had, before Pultowa, almost always maintained a superi- 
ority. With the single but important exception of Poland, 
no Sclavonic state had made any considerable figure in 
history before the time when Peter the Great won his great 
victory over the Swedish king.^ What Russia has done since 
that time we know and we feel. And some of the wisest and 
best men of our own age and nation, who have watched with 
deepest care the annals and the destinies of humanity, have 
believed that the Sclavonic element in the population of 
Europe has as yet only partially developed its powers ; that, 
while other races of mankind (our own, the Germanic, in- 
cluded) have exhausted their creative energies and completed 



1709] BATTLE OF PULTOWA 303 

their allotted achievements, the Sclavonic race has yet a great 
career to run ; and that the narrative of Sclavonic ascend- 
ency is the remaining page that will conclude the history of 
the world. 

Let it not be supposed that in thus regarding the primary 
triumph of Russia over Sweden as a victory of the Sclavonic 
over the Germanic race we are dealing with matters of mere 
ethnological pedantry, or with themes of mere speculative 
curiosity. The fact that Russia is a Sclavonic empire is a 
fact of immense practical influence at the present moment. 
Half the inhabitants of the Austrian empire are Sclavonian. 
The population of the larger part of Turkey in Europe is of 
the same race. Silesia, Posen, and other parts of the Prus- 
sian dominions are principally Sclavonic. And during late 
years an enthusiastic zeal for blending all Sclavonians into 
one great united Sclavonic empire has been growing up in 
these countries, which, however we may deride its principle, 
is not the less real and active, and of which Russia, as the 
head and champion of the Sclavonic race, knows well how to 
take her advantage.^ 

It is a singular fact that Russia owes her very name to a 
band of Swedish invaders who conquered her a thousand 
years ago. They were soon absorbed in the Sclavonic popu- 
lation, and every trace of the Swedish character had disap- 
peared in Russia for many centuries before her invasion by 
Charles XII. She was long the victim and the slave of the 
Tartars ; and for many considerable periods of years the 
Poles held her in subjugation. Indeed, if we except the ex- 
peditions of some of the early Russian chiefs against Byzan- 
tium, and the reign of Ivan Vasilovitch, the history of Russia 
before the time of Peter the Great is one long tale of suffer- 
ing and degradation. 

But whatever may have been the amount of national 
injuries that she sustained from Swede, from Tartar, or from 
Pole in the ages of her weakness, she has certainly retaliated 
tenfold during the century and a half of her strength. Her 
rapid transition at the commencement of that period from 
being the prey of every conqueror to being the conqueror of 
all with whom she comes into contact, to being the oppressor 
instead of the oppressed, is almost without a parallel in the 



304 DECISIVE BATTLES [1709 

history of nations. It was the work of a single ruler ; who, 
himself without education, promoted science and literature 
among barbaric millions ; who gave them fleets, commerce, 
arts, and arms ; who, at Pultowa, taught them to face and 
beat the previously invincible Swedes ; and who made stub- 
born valor and implicit subordination from that time forth 
the distinguishing characteristics of the Russian soldiery, 
which had before his time been a mere disorderly and irreso- 
lute rabble. 

The career of Philip of Macedon resembles most nearly 
that of the great Muscovite czar ; but there is this important 
difference, that Philip had, while young, received in Southern 
Greece the best education in all matters of peace and war 
that the ablest philosophers and generals of the age could 
bestow. Peter was brought up among barbarians and in 
barbaric ignorance. He strove to remedy this when a grown 
man, by leaving all the temptations to idleness and sensuality 
which his court offered and by seeking instruction abroad. 
He labored with his own hands as a common artisan in 
Holland and in England, that he might return and teach his 
subjects how ships, commerce, and civilization could be 
acquired. There is a degree of heroism here superior to 
anything that we know of in the Macedonian king. But 
Philip's consoHdation of the long disunited Macedonian 
empire ; his raising a people which he found the scorn of 
their civilized southern neighbors to be their dread; his 
organization of a brave and well-disciplined army, instead of 
a disorderly militia ; his creation of a maritime force, and his 
systematic skill in acquiring and improving seaports and 
arsenals ; his patient tenacity of purpose under reverses ; his 
personal bravery, and even his proneness to coarse amuse- 
ments and pleasures — all mark him out as the prototype of 
the imperial founder of the Russian power. In justice, how- 
ever, to the ancient hero, it ought to be added that we find in 
the history of Philip no examples of that savage cruelty which 
deforms so grievously the character of Peter the Great. 

In considering the effects of the overthrow which the 
Swedish arms sustained at Pultowa, and in speculating on 
the probable consequences that would have followed if the 
invaders had been successful, we must not only bear in mind 



1709] BATTLE OF PULTOWA 305 

the wretched state in which Peter found Russia at his acces- 
sion, compared with her present grandeur, but we must also 
keep in view the fact that, at the time when Pultowa was 
fought, his reforms were yet incomplete and his new institu- 
tions immature. He had broken up the old Russia ; and the 
new Russia, which he ultimately created, was still in embryo. 
Had he been crushed at Pultowa, his mighty schemes would 
have been buried with him ; and (to use the words of Voltaire) 
" the most extensive empire in the world would have relapsed 
into the chaos from which it had been so lately taken." It 
is this fact that makes the repulse of Charles XH. the critical 
point in the fortunes of Russia. The danger which she in- 
curred a century afterwards from her invasion by Napoleon 
was in reality far less than her peril when Charles attacked 
her ; though the French emperor, as a military genius, was 
infinitely superior to the Swedish king, and led a host against 
her compared with which the armies of Charles seem almost 
insignificant. But, as Fouche well warned his imperial 
master, when he vainly endeavored to dissuade him from his 
disastrous expedition against the empire of the czars, the 
difference between the Russia of 18 12 and the Russia of 1709 
was greater than the disparity between the power of Charles 
and the might of Napoleon. " If that heroic king," said 
Fouche, "had not, like your imperial majesty, half Europe 
in arms to back him, neither had his opponent, the Czar 
Peter, 400,000 soldiers and 50,000 Cossacks." The historians 
who describe the state of the Muscovite empire when revolu- 
tionary and imperial France encountered it narrate with truth 
and justice how " at the epoch of the French Revolution this 
immense empire, comprehending nearly half of Europe and 
Asia within its dominions, inhabited by a patient and indomi- 
table race, ever ready to exchange the luxury and adventure 
of the south for the hardships and monotony of the north, 
was daily becoming more formidable to the liberties of 
Europe. The Russian infantry had then long been cele- 
brated for its immovable firmness. Her immense popula- 
tion, amounting then in Europe alone to nearly thirty-five 
millions, afforded an inexhaustible supply of men. Her sol- 
diers, inured to heat and cold from their infancy, and actuated 
by a blind devotion to their czar, united the steady valor of 



306 DECISIVE BATTLES [1709 

the English to the impetuous energy of the French troops." 
[Alison.] So, also, we read how the haughty aggressions of 
Bonaparte " went to excite a national feeling, from the banks 
of the Borysthenes to the wall of China, and to unite against 
him the wild and uncivilized inhabitants of an extended 
empire, possessed by a love to their religion, their govern- 
ment, and their country, and having a character of stern 
devotion, which he was incapable of estimating." But the 
Russia of 1709 had no such forces to oppose an assailant. 
Her whole population then was below sixteen millions ; and, 
what is far more important, this population had acquired 
neither military spirit nor strong nationality ; nor was it 
united in loyal attachment to its ruler. 

Peter had wisely abolished the old regular troops of the 
empire, the Strelitzes; but the forces which he had raised in 
their stead on a new and foreign plan, and principally officered 
with foreigners, had, before the Swedish invasion, given no 
proof that they could be relied on. In numerous encounters 
with the Swedes, Peter's soldiery had run like sheep before 
inferior numbers. Great discontent, also, had been excited 
among all classes of the community by the arbitrary changes 
which their great emperor introduced, many of which clashed 
with the most cherished national prejudices of his sub- 
jects. A career of victory and prosperity had not yet 
raised Peter above the reach of that disaffection, nor had 
superstitious obedience to the czar yet become the character- 
istic of the Muscovite mind. The victorious occupation of 
Moscow by Charles XII. would have quelled the Russian 
nation as effectually as had been the case when Baton Khan, 
and other ancient invaders, captured the capital of primitive 
Muscovy. How little such a triumph could effect towards 
subduing modern Russia, the fate of Napoleon demonstrated 
at once and forever. 

The character of Charles XII. has been a favorite theme 
with historians, moralists, philosophers, and poets. But it 
is his military conduct during the campaign in Russia that 
alone requires comment here. Napoleon, in the memoirs dic- 
tated by him at St. Helena, has given us a systematic criti- 
cism on that, among other celebrated campaigns, his own 
Russian campaign included. He labors hard to prove that 



PETER THE GREAT. 

Photogravure from an engraving after a painting by Kneller. 



1709] BATTLE OF PULTOWA 307 

he himself observed all the true principles of offensive war ; 
and probably his censures of Charles's generalship were 
rather highly colored, for the sake of making his own mili- 
tary skill stand out in more favorable relief. Yet, after mak- 
ing all allowances, we must admit the force of Napoleon's 
strictures on Charles's tactics, and own that his judgment, 
though severe, is correct, when he pronounces that the Swed- 
ish king, unlike his great predecessor Gustavus, knew nothing 
of the art of war, and was nothing more than a brave and 
intrepid soldier. Such, however, was not the light in which 
Charles was regarded by his contemporaries at the commence- 
ment of his Russian expedition. His numerous victories, his 
daring and resolute spirit, combined with the ancient renown 
of the Swedish arms, then filled all Europe with admiration 
and anxiety. As Johnson expresses it, his name was then 
one at which the world grew pale. Even Louis le Grand 
earnestly solicited his assistance ; and our own Marlborough, 
then in the full career of his victories, was specially sent by 
the English court to the camp of Charles, to propitiate the 
hero of the North in favor of the cause of the Allies, and to 
prevent the Swedish sword from being flung into the scale in 
the French king's favor. But Charles at that time was solely 
bent on dethroning the sovereign of Russia, as he had 
already dethroned the sovereign of Poland, and all Europe 
fully believed that he would entirely crush the czar, and dic- 
tate conditions of peace in the Kremlin.^ Charles himself 
looked on success as a matter of certainty ; and the romantic 
extravagance of his views was continually increasing. " One 
year, he thought, would suffice for the conquest of Russia. 
The court of Rome was next to feel his vengeance, as the 
pope had dared to oppose the concession of religious liberty to 
the Silesian Protestants. No enterprise at that time appeared 
impossible to him. He had even despatched several officers 
privately into Asia and Egypt to take plans of the towns and 
examine into the strength and resources of those countries." 
[Crighton.] 

Napoleon thus epitomizes the earlier operations of Charles's 
invasion of Russia : — 

" That prince set out from his camp at Aldstadt, near Leip- 
sic, in September, 1707, at the head of 45,000 men, and trav- 



308 DECISIVE BATTLES [1709 

ersed Poland ; 20,000 men, under Count Lewenhaupt, dis- 
embarked at Riga, and 15,000 were in Finland. He was 
therefore in a condition to have brought together 80,000 of 
the best troops in the world. He left 10,000 men at Warsaw 
to guard King Stanislaus, and in January, 1708, arrived at 
Grodno, where he wintered. In June, he crossed the forest of 
Minsk, and presented himself before Borisov; forced the 
Russian army which occupied the left bank of the Beresina ; 
defeated 20,000 Russians who were strongly entrenched 
behind marshes; passed the Borysthenes at Mohiloev, and 
vanquished a corps of 16,000 Muscovites near Smolensko, on 
the 22d of September. He was now advanced to the confines 
of Lithuania, and was about to enter Russia proper. The 
czar, alarmed at his approach, made him proposals of peace. 
Up to this time all his movements were conformable to rule, 
and his communications were well secured. He was master 
of Poland and Riga, and only ten days' march distant from 
Moscow ; and it is probable that he would have reached that 
capital, had he not quitted the highroad thither and directed 
his steps towards the Ukraine, in order to form a junction 
with Mazeppa, who brought him only 6000 men. By this 
movement his line of operations, beginning at Sweden, 
exposed his flank to Russia for a distance of four hundred 
leagues, and he was unable to protect it, or to receive either 
reenforcement or assistance." 

Napoleon severely censures this neglect of one of the great 
rules of war. He points out that Charles had not organized 
his war like Hannibal, on the principle of relinquishing all 
communications with home, keeping all his forces concen- 
trated, and creating a base of operations in the conquered 
country. Such had been the bold system of the Carthaginian 
general ; but Charles acted on no such principle, inasmuch as 
he caused Lewenhaupt, one of his generals, who commanded 
a considerable detachment and escorted a most important 
convoy, to follow him at a distance of twelve days' march. 
By this dislocation of his forces he exposed Lewenhaupt to 
be overwhelmed separately by the full force of the enemy, 
and deprived the troops under his own command of the aid 
which that general's men and stores might have afforded at 
the very crisis of the campaign. 



1709] BATTLE OF PULTOWA 309 

The czar had collected an army of about a hundred thousand 
effective men; and though the Swedes in the beginning of the 
invasion were successful in every encounter, the Russian troops 
were gradually acquiring discipline ; and Peter and his officers 
were learning generalship from their victors, as the Thebans 
of old learned it from the Spartans. When Lewenhaupt, in the 
October of 1708, was striving to join Charles in the Ukraine, 
the czar suddenly attacked him near the Borysthenes with an 
overwhelming force of fifty thousand Russians. Lewenhaupt 
fought bravely for three days, and succeeded in cutting his 
way through the enemy, with about four thousand of his 
men, to where Charles awaited him near the river Desna; 
but upwards of eight thousand Swedes fell in these battles ; 
Lewenhaupt's cannon and ammunition were abandoned, and 
the whole of his important convoy of provisions, on which 
Charles and his half-starved troops were relying, fell into the 
enemy's hands. Charles was compelled to remain in the 
Ukraine during the winter; but in the spring of 1709 he 
moved forward towards Moscow, and invested the fortified 
town of Pultowa, on the river Vorskla, a place where the czar 
had stored up large supplies of provisions and military stores, 
and which commanded the roads leading towards Moscow. 
The possession of this place would have given Charles the 
means of supplying all the wants of his suffering army, and 
would also have furnished him with a secure base of opera- 
tions for his advance against the Muscovite capital. The 
siege was therefore hotly pressed by the Swedes; the garrison 
resisted obstinately ; and the czar, feeling the importance of 
saving the town, advanced in June to its relief, at the head of 
an army from fifty to sixty thousand strong. 

Both sovereigns now prepared for the general action which 
each perceived to be inevitable, and which each felt would be 
decisive of his own and of his country's destiny. The czar, 
by some masterly maneuvers, crossed the Vorskla, and posted 
his army on the same side of that river with the besiegers, 
but a little higher up. The Vorskla falls into the Borysthenes 
about fifteen leagues below Pultowa, and the czar arranged 
his forces in two lines, stretching from one river towards the 
other ; so that if the Swedes attacked him and were repulsed, 
they would be driven backwards into the acute angle formed 



3IO DECISIVE BATTLES [1709 

by the two streams at their junction. He fortified these lines 
with several redoubts, lined with heavy artillery; and his troops, 
both horse and foot, were in the best possible condition, and 
amply provided with stores and ammunition. Charles's forces 
were about twenty-four thousand strong. But not more than 
half of these were Swedes ; so much had battle, famine, fatigue, 
and the deadly frosts of Russia thinned the gallant bands 
which the Swedish king and Lewenhaupt had led to the 
Ukraine. The other twelve thousand men under Charles 
were Cossacks and Wallachians, who had joined him in that 
country. On hearing that the czar was about to attack him, 
he deemed that his dignity required that he himself should 
be the assailant; and, leading his army out of their entrenched 
lines before the town, he advanced with them against the 
Russian redoubts. 

He had been severely wounded in the foot in a skirmish a 
few days before, and was borne in a litter along the ranks, 
into the thick of the fight. Notwithstanding the fearful dis- 
parity of numbers and disadvantage of position, the Swedes 
never showed their ancient valor more nobly than on that 
dreadful day. Nor do their Cossack and Wallachian allies 
seem to have been unworthy of fighting side by side with 
Charles's veterans. Two of the Russian redoubts were actu- 
ally entered, and the Swedish infantry began to raise the cry 
of victory. But on the other side, neither general nor soldiers 
flinched in their duty. The Russian cannonade and mus- 
ketry were kept up ; fresh masses of defenders were poured 
into the fortifications, and at length the exhausted remnants 
of the Swedish columns recoiled from the blood-stained 
redoubts. Then the czar led the infantry and cavalry of his 
first line outside the works, drew them up steadily and skil- 
fully, and the action was renewed along the whole fronts of 
the two armies on the open ground. Each sovereign exposed 
his life freely in the world-winning battle ; and on each side 
the troops fought obstinately and eagerly under their ruler's 
eye. It was not till two hours from the commencement of 
the action that, overpowered by numbers, the hitherto invin- 
cible Swedes gave way. All was then hopeless disorder and 
irreparable rout. Driven downward to where the rivers join, 
the fugitive Swedes surrendered to their victorious pursuers. 



1709] BATTLE OF PULTOWA 311 

or perished in the waters of the Borysthenes. Only a few 
hundreds swam that river with their king and the Cossack 
Mazeppa, and escaped into the Turkish territory. Nearly 
ten thousand lay killed and wounded in the redoubts and on 
the field of battle. 

In the joy of his heart the czar exclaimed, when the strife 
was over, " that the son of the morning had fallen from 
heaven ; and that the foundations of St. Petersburg at length 
stood firm." Even on that battle-field, near the Ukraine, the 
Russian emperor's first thoughts were of conquests and ag- 
grandizement of the Baltic. The peace of Nystadt, which 
transferred the fairest provinces of Sweden to Russia, ratified 
the judgment of battle which was pronounced at Pultowa. 
Attacks on Turkey and Persia by Russia commenced almost 
directly after that victory. And though the czar failed in his 
first attempts against the sultan, the successors of Peter have, 
one and all, carried on a uniformly aggressive and uniformly 
successful system of policy against Turkey, and against every 
other state, Asiatic as well as European, which has had the 
misfortune of having Russia for a neighbor. 

Orators and authors who have discussed the progress of 
Russia have often alluded to the similitude between the 
modern extension of the Muscovite empire and the extension 
of the Roman dominions in ancient times. But attention has 
scarcely been drawn to the closeness of the parallel between 
conquering Russia and conquering Rome, not only in the 
extent of conquests, but in the means of effecting conquest. 
The history of Rome during the century and a half which 
followed the close of the second Punic war, and during which 
her largest acquisitions of territory were made, should be 
minutely compared with the history of Russia for the last one 
hundred and fifty years. The main points of similitude can 
only be indicated in these pages ; but they deserve the fullest 
consideration. Above all, the sixth chapter of Montesquieu's 
great treatise on Rome, the chapter "De la condiiite que les 
Romains tinrent pour soumettre les peuples,'' should be care- 
fully studied by every one who watches the career and policy 
of Russia. The classic scholar will remember the statecraft 
of the Roman senate, which took care in every foreign war 
to appear in the character of a Protector. Thus Rome pro- 



312 DECISIVE BATTLES [1709 

tected the ^Etolians and the Greek cities against Macedon ; 
she protected Bithynia and other small Asiatic states against 
the Syrian kings ; she protected Numidia against Carthage ; 
and in numerous other instances assumed the same specious 
character. But " woe to the people whose liberty depends 
on the continued forbearance of an over-mighty protector." 
Every state which Rome protected was ultimately subjugated 
and absorbed by her. And Russia has been the protector of 
Poland, the protector of the Crimea, the protector of Cour- 
land, the protector of Georgia, Immeritia, Mingrelia, the 
Tcherkessian and Caucasian tribes. She has first protected 
and then appropriated them all. She protects Moldavia and 
Wallachia. A few years ago she became the protector of 
Turkey from Mehemet Ali ; and since the summer of 1849 
she has made herself the protector of Austria. 

When the partisans of Russia speak of the disinterestedness 
with which she withdrew her protecting troops from Constan- 
tinople and from Hungary, let us here also mark the ominous 
exactness of the parallel between her and Rome. While the 
ancient world yet contained a number of independent states, 
which might have made a formidable league against Rome if 
she had alarmed them by openly avowing her ambitious 
schemes, Rome's favorite policy was seeming disinterested- 
ness and moderation. After her first war against Philip, after 
that against Antiochus, and many others, victorious Rome 
promptly withdrew her troops from the territories which they 
occupied. She affected to employ her arms only for the good 
of others ; but, when the favorable moment came, she always 
found a pretext for marching her legions back into each cov- 
eted district and making it a Roman province. Fear, not 
moderation, is the only effective check on the ambition of 
such powers as ancient Rome and modern Russia. The 
amount of that fear depends on the amount of timely vigilance 
and energy which other states choose to employ against the 
common enemy of their freedom and national independence. 

Notes 

^ The Hussite wars may, perhaps, entitle Bohemia to be distinguished. 

^ "The idea of Panslavism had a purely literary origin. It was started 
by Kollar, a Protestant clergyman of the Sclavonic congregation at Pesth, 
in Hungary, who wished to establish a national literature by circulating all 



1709] BATTLE OF PULTOWA 313 

works written in the various Sclavonic dialects through every country where 
any of them are spoken. He suggested that all the Sclavonic literati should 
become acquainted with the sister dialects, so that a Bohemian or other 
work might be read on the shores of the Adriatic as well as on the banks 
of the Volga, or any other place where a Sclavonic language was spoken ; 
by which means an extensive literature might be created, tending to advance 
knowledge in all Sclavonic countries ; and he supported his arguments by 
observing that the dialects of ancient Greece differed from each other, like 
those of his own language, and yet that they formed only one Hellenic 
literature. The idea of an intellectual union of all those nations naturally 
led to that of a political one ; and the Sclavonians, seeing that their numbers 
amounted to about one third part of the whole population of Europe and 
occupied more than half its territory, began to be sensible that they might 
claim for themselves a position to which they had not hitherto aspired. 

" The opinion gained ground ; and the question now is, whether the 
Sclavonians can form a nation independent of Russia ; or whether they 
ought to rest satisfied in being part of one great race, with the most powerful 
member of it as their chief. The latter, indeed, is gaining ground among 
them ; and some Poles are disposed to attribute their suiferings to the 
arbitrary will of the czar, without extending the blame to the Russians 
themselves. These begin to think that if they cannot exist as Poles, the 
best thing to be done is to rest satisfied with a position in the Sclavonic 
empire ; and they hope that, when once they give up the idea of restoring 
their country, Russia may grant some concessions to their separate nation- 
ality. 

" The same idea has been put forward by writers in the Russian interest ; 
great efforts are making among other Sclavonic people to induce them to 
look upon Russia as their future head ; and she has already gained con- 
siderable influence over the Sclavonic populations of Turkey." — Wilkin- 
son's Dahnatia. 

3 Voltaire attests, from personal inspection of the letters of several public 
ministers to their respective courts, that such was the general expectation. 

Synopsis of Events between the Battle of Pultowa, 
1709, and the Defeat of Burgoyne at Saratoga, 1777 

171 3. Treaty of Utrecht. Philip is left by it in posses- 
sion of the throne of Spain. But Naples, Milan, the Spanish 
territories on the Tuscan coast, the Spanish Netherlands, and 
some parts of the French Netherlands are given to Austria. 
France cedes to England Hudson's Bay and Straits, the island 
of St. Christopher, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland in 
America. Spain cedes to England Gibraltar and Minorca, 
which the English had taken during the war. The king of 
Prussia and the Duke of Savoy both obtain considerable 
adaitions of territory to their dominions. 



314 DECISIVE BATTLES [1709 

1 7 14. Death of Queen Anne. The house of Hanover be- 
gins to reign in England. A rebellion in favor of the Stuarts 
is put down. Death of Louis XIV. 

1 7 18. Charles XII. killed at the siege of Frederickshall. 

1725. Death of Peter the Great of Russia. 

1740. Frederick II., king of Prussia, begins his reign. He 
attacks the Austrian dominions, and conquers Silesia. 

1742. War between France and England. 

1743. Victory of the English at Dettingen. 

1745. Victory of the French at Fontenoy. Rebellion in 
Scotland in favor of the house of Stuart ; finally quelled by 
the battle of Culloden in the next year. 

1748. Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. 

1756 to 1763. The Seven Years' war, during which Prussia 
makes an heroic resistance against the armies of Austria, 
Russia, and France. England, under the administration of 
the elder Pitt (afterwards Lord Chatham), takes a glorious 
part in the war in opposition to France and Spain. Wolfe 
wins the battle of Quebec, and the English conquer Canada, 
Cape Breton, and St. John. Clive begins his career of con- 
quest in India. Cuba is taken by the English from Spain. 

1763. Treaty of Paris, which leaves the power of Prussia 
increased and its military reputation greatly exalted. 

" France, by the Treaty of Paris, ceded to England Canada 
and the island of Cape Breton, with the islands and coasts of 
the gulf and river of St. Lawrence. The boundaries between 
the two nations in North America were fixed by a line drawn 
along the middle of the Mississippi, from its source to its 
mouth. All on the left or eastern bank of that river was 
given up to England, except the city of New Orleans, which 
was reserved to France ; as was also the liberty of the fish- 
eries on a part of the coasts of Newfoundland and the Gulf 
of St. Lawrence. The islands of St. Peter and Miquelon 
were given them as a shelter for their fishermen, but without 
permission to raise fortifications. The islands of Martinique, 
Guadeloupe, Marie Galante, Desirade, and St. Lucia were 
surrendered to France ; while Grenada, the Grenadines, St. 
Vincent, Dominica, and Tobago were ceded to England. This 
latter power retained her conquests on the Senegal, and re- 
stored to France the island of Goree, on the coast of Africa. 



1709] BATTLE OF PULTOWA 315 

France was put in possession of the forts and factories which 
belonged to her in the East Indies, on the coasts of Coroman- 
del, Orissa, Malabar, and Bengal, under the restriction of 
keeping up no military force in Bengal. 

"In Europe, France restored all the conquests she had 
made in Germany, as also the island of Minorca. England 
gave up to her Belleisle, on the coast of Brittany; while 
Dunkirk was kept in the same condition as had been deter- 
mined by the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. The island of Cuba, 
with the Havana, was restored to the king of Spain, who, 
on his part, ceded to England Florida, with Port Augustine 
and the Bay of Pensacola. The king of Portugal was re- 
stored to the same state in which he had been before the war. 
The colony of St. Sacrament in America, which the Spaniards 
had conquered, was given back to him. 

'• The peace of Paris, of which we have just now spoken, 
was the era of England's greatest prosperity. Her commerce 
and navigation extended over all parts of the globe, and were 
supported by a naval force so much the more imposing, as 
it was no longer counterbalanced by the maritime power of 
France, which had been almost annihilated in the preceding 
war. The immense territories which that peace had secured 
her, both in Africa and America, opened up new channels 
for her industry : and what deserves specially to be remarked 
is that she acquired at the same time vast and important 
possessions in the East Indies." [Koch.] 



3l6 DECISIVE BATTLES [1777 



CHAPTER XIII 

Victory of the Americans over Biirgoyne at Saratoga, 1777 

" Westward the course of empire takes its way ; 
The first four acts already past, 
A fifth shall close the drama with the day : 
Time's noblest offspring is its last." 

— Bishop Berkeley. 

"Even of those great conflicts in which hundreds of thousands have 
been engaged and tens of thousands have fallen, none has been more fruit- 
ful of results than this surrender of thirty-five hundred fighting men at 
Saratoga. It not merely changed the relations of England and the feelings 
of Europe towards these insurgent colonies, but it has modified, for all time 
to come, the connection between every colony and every parent state." — 
Lord Mahon. 

OF the four great powers that now principally rule the 
political destinies of the world; France and England 
are the only two whose influence can be dated back 
beyond the last century and a half. The third great power, 
Russia, was a feeble mass of barbarism before the epoch of 
Peter the Great ; and the very existence of the fourth great 
power, as an independent nation, commenced within the 
memory of living men. By the fourth great power of the 
world I mean the mighty commonwealth of the Western con- 
tinent, which now commands the admiration of mankind. 
That homage is sometimes reluctantly given, and accompa- 
nied with suspicion and ill will. But none can refuse it. All 
the physical essentials for national strength are undeniably 
to be found in the geographical position and amplitude of 
territory which the United States possess : in their almost 
inexhaustible tracts of fertile but hitherto untouched soil ; in 
their stately forests, in their mountain chains and their rivers, 
their beds of coal, and stores of metallic wealth ; in their ex- 
tensive seaboard along the waters of two oceans, and in their 



1777] BATTLE OF SARATOGA 317 

already numerous and rapidly increasing population. And 
when we examine the character of this population, no one 
can look on the fearless energy, the sturdy determination, 
the aptitude for local self-government, the versatile alacrity, 
and the unresting spirit of enterprise which characterize the 
Anglo-Americans without feeling that he here beholds the 
true moral elements of progressive might. 

Three quarters of a century have not yet passed away since 
the United States ceased to be mere dependencies of Eng- 
land. And even if we date their origin from the period when 
the first permanent European settlements, out of which they 
grew, were made on the western coast of the North Atlantic, 
the increase of their strength is unparalleled, either in rapidity 
or extent. 

The ancient Roman boasted, with reason, of the growth of 
Rome from humble beginnings to the greatest magnitude 
which the world had then ever witnessed. But the citizen of 
the United States is still more justly entitled to claim this 
praise. In two centuries and a half his country has acquired 
ampler dominion than the Roman gained in ten. And, even 
if we credit the legend of the band of shepherds and outlaws 
with which Romulus is said to have colonized the Seven Hills, 
we find not there so small a germ of future greatness as we 
find in the group of a hundred and five ill-chosen and disunited 
emigrants who founded Jamestown in 1607, or in the scanty 
band of Pilgrim Fathers who, a few years later, moored their 
bark on the wild and rock-bound coast of the wilderness that 
was to become New England. The power of the United 
States is emphatically the " Imperium quo neque ab exordio 
ullum fere minus, neque incrementis toto orbe amplius humana 
potest memoria recordari." [Eutropius.] 

Nothing is more calculated to impress the mind with a sense 
of the rapidity with which the resources of the American 
republic advance than the difficulty which the historical 
inquirer finds in ascertaining their precise amount. If he 
consults the most recent works, and those written by the 
ablest investigators of the subject, he finds in them admiring 
comments on the change which the last few years, before 
those books were written, had made ; but when he turns to 
apply the estimates in those books to the present moment, he 



3l8 DECISIVE BATTLES [1777 

finds them wholly inadequate. Before a book on the subject 
of the United States has lost its novelty, those states have 
outgrown the description which it contains. The celebrated 
work of the French statesman De Tocqueville appeared about 
fifteen years ago. In the passage which I am about to quote, 
it will be seen that he predicts the constant increase of the 
Anglo-American power, but he looks on the Rocky Moun- 
tains as their extreme western limit for many years to come. 
He had evidently no expectation of himself seeing that power 
dominant along the Pacific as well as along the Atlantic coast. 
He says : — 

" The distance from Lake Superior to the Gulf of Mexico 
extends from the 47th to the 30th degree of latitude, a dis- 
tance of more than 1200 miles, as the bird flies. The frontier 
of the United States winds along the whole of this immense 
line ; sometimes falling within its limits, but more frequently 
extending far beyond it into the waste. It has been calculated 
that the Whites advance every year a mean distance of seven- 
teen miles along the whole of this vast boundary. Obstacles, 
such as an unproductive district, a lake, or an Indian nation 
unexpectedly encountered, are sometimes met with. The 
advancing column then halts for a while ; its two extremities 
fall back upon themselves, and as soon as they are reunited 
they proceed onward. This gradual and continuous progress 
of the European race towards the Rocky Mountains has the 
solemnity of a Providential event : it is like a deluge of men 
rising unabatedly, and daily driven onward by the hand of 
God. 

"Within this first line of conquering settlers towns are 
built and vast estates founded. In 1790 there were only a 
few thousand pioneers sprinkled along the valleys of the Mis- 
sissippi ; and at the present day these valleys contain as many 
inhabitants as were to be found in the whole Union in I790- 
Their population amounts to nearly four millions. The city 
of Washington was founded in 1800, in the very center of the 
Union ; but such are the changes which have taken place, 
that it now stands at one of the extremities ; and the dele- 
gates of the most remote Western states are already obliged 
to perform a journey as long as that from Vienna to Paris. 

" It must not, then, be imagined that the impulse of the 



1777] BATTLE OF SARATOGA 319 

British race in the New World can be arrested. The dis- 
memberment of the Union, and the hostiHties which might 
ensue ; the aboHtion of republican institutions, and the tyran- 
nical government which might succeed it, may retard this 
impulse, but they cannot prevent it from ultimately fulfilling 
the destinies to which that race is reserved. No power upon 
earth can close upon the emigrants that fertile wilderness, 
which offers resources to all industry and a refuge from all 
want. Future events, of whatever nature they may be, will 
not deprive the Americans of their climate or of their 
inland seas, or of their great rivers, or of their exuberant 
soil. Nor will bad laws, revolutions, and anarchy be able 
to obliterate that love of prosperity and that spirit of enter- 
prise which seem to be the distinctive characteristics of their 
race, or to extinguish that knowledge which guides them on 
their way. 

" Thus, in the midst of the uncertain future, one event at 
least is sure. At a period which may be said to be near (for 
we are speaking of the life of a nation), the Anglo-Americans 
will alone cover the immense space contained between the 
polar regions and the tropics, extending from the coast of the 
Atlantic to the shores of the Pacific Ocean ; the territory 
which will probably be occupied by the Anglo-Americans at 
some future time may be computed to equal three quarters of 
Europe in extent. The climate of the Union is, upon the 
whole, preferable to that of Europe, and its natural advan- 
tages are not less great ; it is therefore evident that its popu- 
lation will at some future time be proportionate to our own. 
Europe, divided as it is between so many different nations, 
and torn as it has been by incessant wars and the barbarous 
manners of the Middle Ages, has notwithstanding attained a 
population of 410 inhabitants to the square league. What 
cause can prevent the United States from having as numerous 
a population in time .'' 

" The time will therefore come when one hundred and 
fifty millions of men will be living in North America, equal 
in condition, the progeny of one race, owing their origin to 
the same cause, and preserving the same civilization, the 
same language, the same religion, the same habits, the same 
mariners, and imbued with the same opinions, propagated 



320 DECISIVE BATTLES [1777 

under the same forms. The rest is uncertain, but this is cer- 
tain ; and it is a fact new to the world, a fact fraught with 
such portentous consequences as to baffle the efforts even of 
the imagination." 

Let us turn from the French statesman, writing in 1835, 
to an English statesman, who is justly regarded as the high- 
est authority on all statistical subjects, and who described the 
United States only seven years ago. Macgregor tells us, — 

"The states which, on the ratification of independence, 
formed the American Republican Union, were thirteen, viz. : — 

" Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode 
Island, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Penn- 
sylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and 
Georgia. 

" The foregoing thirteen states {the whole inhabited tern- 
tory of which, with the exception of a few small settlements, 
was confined to the region extending between the Alleghajiy 
Moujitains aitd the Atla7itic^ were those which existed at the 
period when they became an acknowledged separate and in- 
dependent federal sovereign power. The thirteen stripes of 
the standard or flag of the United States continue to rep- 
resent the original number. The stars have multiplied to 
twenty-six,^ according as the number of states has increased. 

" The territory of the thirteen original states of the Union, 
including Maine and Vermont, comprehended a superficies 
of 371,124 English square miles ; that of the whole United 
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, 120,354 ; that of 
France, including Corsica, 214,910; that of the Austrian em- 
pire, including Hungary and all the imperial states, 257,540 
square miles. 

" The present superficies of the twenty-six constitutional 
states of the Anglo-American Union, and the District of 
Columbia and territories of Florida, include 1,029,025 square 
miles ; to which if we add the Northwest or Wisconsin terri- 
tory, east of the Mississippi, and bounded by Lake Superior 
on the north and Michigan on the east, and occupying at 
least 100,000 square miles, and then add the great western 
region, not yet well-defined territories, but at the most limited 
calculation comprehending 700,000 square miles — the whole 
unbroken in its vast length and breadth by foreign nations 



1777] BATTLE OF SARATOGA 321 

— it comprehends a portion of the earth's surface equal to 
1,729,025 English, or 1,296,770 geographical, square miles." 

We may add that the population of the states, when they 
declared their independence, was about two millions and a 
half ; it is now twenty-three millions. 

I have quoted Macgregor, not only on account of the clear 
and full view which he gives of the progress of America to 
the date when he wrote, but because his description may be 
contrasted with what the United States have become even 
since his book appeared. Only three years after the time 
when Macgregor thus wrote, the American President truly 
stated : — 

" Within less than four years the annexation of Texas to 
the Union has been consummated ; all conflicting title to the 
Oregon territory, south of the 49th degree of north latitude, 
adjusted ; and New Mexico and Upper California have been 
acquired by treaty. The area of these several territories 
contains 1,193,061 square miles, or 763,559,040 acres; while 
the area of the remaining twenty-nine states, and the terri- 
tory not yet organized into states east of the Rocky Moun- 
tains, contains 2,059,513 square miles, or 1,318,126,058 acres. 
These estimates show that the territories recently acquired, 
and over which our exclusive jurisdiction and dominion have 
been extended, constitute a country more than half as large 
as all that which was held by the United States before their 
acquisition. If Oregon be excluded from the estimate, there 
will still remain within the limits of Texas, New Mexico, and 
California 851,598 square miles, or 545,012,720 acres ; being 
an addition equal to more than one third of all the territory 
owned by the United States before their acquisition ; and, 
including Oregon, nearly as great an extent of territory as 
the whole of Europe, Russia only excepted. The Mississippi, 
so lately the frontier of our country, is now only its center. 
With the addition of the late acquisitions, the United States 
are now estimated to be nearly as large as the whole of 
Europe. The extent of the seacoast of Texas, on the Gulf 
of Mexico, is upward of 400 miles ; of the coast of Upper Cali- 
fornia, on the Pacific, of 970 miles ; and of Oregon, including 
the straits of Fuca, of 650 miles ; making the whole extent of 
seacoast on the Pacific 1620 miles, and the whole extent on 



322 DECISIVE BATTLES [1777 

both the Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico 2020 miles. The 
length of the coast on the Atlantic, from the northern limits 
of the United States, round the Capes of Florida to the 
Sabine, on the eastern boundary of Texas, is estimated to be 
3100 miles, so that the addition of seacoast, including Ore- 
gon, is very nearly two thirds as great as all we possessed 
before ; and, excluding Oregon, is an addition of 1370 miles 
— being nearly equal to one half of the extent of coast which 
we possessed before these acquisitions. We have now three 
great maritime fronts — on the Atlantic, the Gulf of Mexico, 
and the Pacific ; making, in the whole, an extent of seacoast 
exceeding 5000 miles. This is the extent of the seacoast of 
the United States, not including bays, sounds, and small ir- 
regularities of the main shore, and of the sea islands. If 
these be included, the length of the shore line of coast, as 
estimated by the superintendent of the Coast Survey, in his 
report, would be 33,063 miles." 

The importance of the power of the United States being, 
then, firmly planted along the Pacific applies not only to the 
New World, but to the Old. Opposite to San Francisco, on 
the coast of that ocean, lie the wealthy but decrepit empires 
of China and Japan. Numerous groups of islets stud the 
larger part of the intervening sea, and form convenient step- 
ping-stones for the progress of commerce or ambition. The 
intercourse of traffic between these ancient Asiatic mon- 
archies and the young Anglo-American republic must be 
rapid and extensive. Any attempt of the Chinese or Jap- 
anese rulers to check it will only accelerate an armed col- 
lision. The American will either buy or force his way. 
Between such populations as that of China and Japan on 
the one side and that of the United States on the other — 
the former haughty, formal, and insolent ; the latter bold, 
intrusive, and unscrupulous — causes of quarrel must, sooner 
or later, arise. The results of such a quarrel cannot be 
doubted. America will scarcely imitate the forbearance 
shown by England at the end of our late war with the 
Celestial Empire ; and the conquest of China and Japan by 
the fleets and armies of the United States are events which 
many now living are likely to witness. Compared with the 
magnitude of such changes in the dominion of the Old 



1777] BATTLE OF SARATOGA 323 

World, the certain ascendency of the Anglo-Americans over 
Central and Southern America seems a matter of secondary 
importance. Well may we repeat De Tocqueville's words, 
that the growing power of this commonwealth is, " Un fait 
entierement nouveau dans le monde, et dont I'imagination 
elle-meme ne saurait saisir la portee."^ 

An EngHshman may look, and ought to look, on the grow- 
ing grandeur of the Americans with no small degree of gen- 
erous sympathy and satisfaction. They, like ourselves, are 
members of the great Anglo-Saxon nation "whose race and 
language are now overrunning the world from one end of it 
to the other." And whatever differences of form of gov- 
ernment may exist between us and them — whatever rem- 
iniscences of the days when, though brethren, we strove 
together may rankle in the minds of us, the defeated party 
— we should cherish the bonds of common nationality that 
still exist between us. We should remember, as the Athe- 
nians remembered of the Spartans at a season of jealousy 
and temptation, that our race is one, being of the same blood, 
speaking the same language, having an essential resemblance 
in our institutions and usages, and worshiping in the temples 
of the same God. All this may and should be borne in mind. 
And yet an Englishman can hardly watch the progress of 
America without the regretful thought that America once was 
English, and that but for the folly of our rulers she might be 
English still. It is true that the commerce between the two 
countries has largely and beneficially increased ; but this is 
no proof that the increase would not have been still greater 
had the states remained integral portions of the same great 
empire. By giving a fair and just participation in political 
rights, these, "the fairest possessions" of the British crown, 
might have been preserved to it. "This ancient and most 
noble monarchy" would not have been dismembered; nor 
should we see that which ought to be the right arm of our 
strength now menacing us in every political crisis, as the most 
formidable rival of our commercial and maritime ascendency. 

The war which rent away the North American colonies of 
England is, of all subjects in history, the most painful for an 
Englishman to dwell on. It was commenced and carried on 
by the British ministry in iniquity and folly, and it was con- 



324 DECISIVE BATTLES [i777 

eluded in disaster and shame. But the contemplation of it 
cannot be evaded by the historian, however much it may be 
abhorred. Nor can any military event be said to have exer- 
cised more important influence on the future fortunes of man- 
kind than the complete defeat of Burgoyne's expedition in 
1777 ; a defeat which rescued the revolted colonists from cer- 
tain subjection ; and which, by inducing the courts of France 
and Spain to attack England in their behalf, insured the inde- 
pendence of the United States and the formation of that trans- 
Atlantic power which not only America, but both Europe and 
Asia, now see and feel. 

Still, in proceeding to describe this " decisive battle of the 
world," a very brief recapitulation of the earlier events of the 
war may be sufficient ; nor shall I linger unnecessarily on a 
painful theme. 

The five northern colonies of Massachusetts, Connecticut, 
Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Vermont, usually classed 
together as the New England colonies, were the strongholds 
of the insurrection against the mother country. The feeling 
of resistance was less vehement and general in the central 
settlement of New York ; and still less so in Pennsylvania, 
Maryland, and the other colonies of the south, although every- 
where it was formidably active, Virginia should, perhaps, be 
particularized for the zeal which its leading men displayed in 
the American cause ; but it was among the descendants of the 
stern Puritans that the spirit of Cromwell and Vane breathed 
in all its fervor ; it was from the New Englanders that the first 
armed opposition to the British crown had been offered ; and 
it was by them that the most stubborn determination to fight 
to the last, rather than waive a single right or privilege, had 
been displayed. In 1775 they had succeeded in forcing the 
British troops to evacuate Boston; and the events of 1776 
had made New York (which the royalists captured in that 
year) the principal basis of operations for the armies of the 
mother country. 

A glance at the map will show that the Hudson River, 
which falls into the Atlantic at New York, runs down from 
the north at the back of the New England states, forming an 
angle of about forty-five degrees with the line of the coast of 
the Atlantic, along which the New England states are situate. 



1777] BATTLE OF SARATOGA 325 

Northward of the Hudson we see a small chain of lakes com- 
municating with the Canadian frontier. It is necessary to 
attend closely to these geographical points, in order to under- 
stand the plan of the operations which the English attempted 
in 1777, and which the battle of Saratoga defeated. 

The English had a considerable force in Canada, and in 
1776 had completely repulsed an attack which the Americans 
had made upon that province. The British ministry resolved 
to avail themselves, in the next year, of the advantage which 
the occupation of Canada gave them, not merely for the pur- 
pose of defense, but for the purpose of striking a vigorous 
and crushing blow against the revolted colonies. With this 
view, the army in Canada was largely reenforced. Seven 
thousand veteran troops were sent out from England, with a 
corps of artillery abundantly supplied, and led by select and 
experienced officers. Large quantities of military stores were 
also furnished for the equipment of the Canadian volunteers 
who were expected to join the expedition. It was intended 
that the force thus collected should march southward by the 
line of the lakes, and thence along the banks of the Hudson 
River. The British army in New York (or a large detach- 
ment of it) was to make a simultaneous movement northward 
up the line of the Hudson, and the two expeditions were to 
unite at Albany, a town on that river. By these operations 
all communication between the northern colonies and those 
of the center and south would be cuf off. An irresistible 
force would be concentrated, so as to crush all further oppo- 
sition in New England ; and when this was done, it was 
believed that the other colonies would speedily submit. The 
Americans had no troops in the field that seemed able to 
baffle these movements. Their principal army, under Wash- 
ington, was occupied in watching over Pennsylvania and the 
south. At any rate, it was believed that, in order to oppose 
the plan intended for the new campaign, the insurgents must 
risk a pitched battle, in which the superiority of the royalists 
in numbers, in discipline, and in equipment seemed to promise 
to the latter a crowning victory. Without question the plan 
was ably formed ; and had the success of the execution been 
equal to the ingenuity of the design, the re-conquest or sub- 
mission of the thirteen United States must, in all human prob- 



326 DECISIVE BATTLES [i777 

ability, have followed ; and the independence which they 
proclaimed in 1776 would have been extinguished before it 
existed a second year. No European power had as yet come 
forward to aid America. It is true that England was gener- 
ally regarded with jealousy and ill will, and was thought to 
have acquired, at the Treaty of Paris, a preponderance of 
dominion which was perilous to the balance of power; but 
though many were willing to wound, none had yet ventured 
to strike; and America, if defeated in 1777, would have been 
suffered to fall unaided.^ 

Burgoyne had gained celebrity by some bold and dashing 
exploits in Portugal during the last war ; he was personally 
as brave an officer as ever headed British troops ; he had 
considerable skill as a tactician ; and his general intellectual 
abilities and acquirements were of a high order. He had sev- 
eral very able and experienced officers under him, among 
whom were Major-general Phillips and Brigadier-general 
Eraser. His regular troops amounted, exclusively of the 
corps of artillery, to about seven thousand two hundred men, 
rank and file. Nearly half of these were Germans. He had 
also an auxiliary force of from two to three thousand Cana- 
dians. He summoned the warriors of several tribes of the 
red Indians near the western lakes to join his army. Much 
eloquence was poured forth, both in America and in England, 
in denouncing the use of these savage auxiliaries. Yet Bur- 
goyne seems to have 'done no more than Montcalm, Wolfe, 
and other French, American, and English generals had done 
before him. But, in truth, the lawless ferocity of the Indians, 
their unskilfulness in regular action, and the utter impossi- 
bility of bringing them under any discipline, made their ser- 
vices of little or no value in times of difficulty; while the 
indignation which their outrages inspired went far to rouse 
the whole population of the invaded districts into active hos- 
tilities against Burgoyne's force. 

Burgoyne assembled his troops and confederates near the 
river Bouquet, on the west side of Lake Champlain. He 
then, on the 21st of June, 1777, gave his red allies a war- 
feast, and harangued them on the necessity of abstaining 
from their usual cruel practises against unarmed people and 
prisoners. At the same time he published a pompous mani- 



1777] BATTLE OF SARATOGA 327 

festo to the Americans, in which he threatened the refractory 
with all the horrors of war, Indian as well as European. 
The army proceeded by water to Crown Point, a fortification 
which the Americans held at the northern extremity of the 
inlet by which the water from Lake George is conveyed to 
Lake Champlain. He landed here without opposition; but 
the reduction of Ticonderoga, a fortification about twelve 
miles to the south of Crown Point, was a more serious mat- 
ter, and was supposed to be the critical part of the expedi- 
tion, Ticonderoga commanded the passage along the lakes, 
and was considered to be the key to the route which Bur- 
goyne wished to follow. The English had been repulsed 
in an attack on it in the war with the French in 1758 with 
severe loss. But Burgoyne now invested it with great skill ; 
and the American general, St. Clair, who had only an ill- 
equipped army of about three thousand men, evacuated it 
on the 5th of July. It seems evident that a different course 
would have caused the destruction or capture of his whole 
army, which, weak as it was, was the chief force then in the 
field for the protection of the New England states. When 
censured by some of his countrymen for abandoning Ticon- 
deroga, St. Clair truly replied, " that he had lost a post but 
saved a province." Burgoyne's troops pursued the retiring 
Americans, gained several advantages over them, and took a 
large part of their artillery and military stores. 

The loss of the British in these engagements was trifling. 
The army moved southward along Lake George to Skenes- 
borough ; and thence slowly, and with great difficulty, across 
a broken country, full of creeks and marshes, and clogged 
by the enemy with felled trees and other obstacles, to Fort 
Edward, on the Hudson River, the American troops continu- 
ing to retire before them. 

Burgoyne reached the left bank of the Hudson River on 
the 30th of July. Hitherto he had overcome every difficulty 
which the enemy and the nature of the country had placed 
in his way. His army was in excellent order and in the 
highest spirits ; and the peril of the expedition seemed over 
when they were once on the bank of the river which was 
to be the channel of communication between them and the 
British army in the south. But their feelings, and those of 



328 DECISIVE BATTLES [1777 

the English nation in general when their successes were 
announced, may best be learned from a contemporary writer. 
Burke, in the "Annual Register" for 1777, describes them 
thus : — 

" Such was the rapid torrent of success which swept every- 
thing away before the northern army in its onset. It is not 
to be wondered at if both officers and private men were 
highly elated with their good fortune, and deemed that and 
their prowess to be irresistible ; if they regarded their enemy 
with the greatest contempt ; considered their own toils to be 
nearly at an end ; Albany to be already in their hands ; and 
the reduction of the northern provinces to be rather a mat- 
ter of some time than an arduous task full of difficulty and 
danger. 

" At home, the joy and exultation were extreme, — not only 
at court, but with all those who hoped or wished the unquali- 
fied subjugation and unconditional submission of the colonies. 
The loss in reputation was greater to the Americans, and 
capable of more fatal consequences, than even that of ground, 
of posts, of artillery, or of men. All the contemptuous and 
most degrading charges which had been made by their ene- 
mies, of their wanting the resolution and abilities of men, 
even in their defense of whatever was dear to them, were 
now repeated and believed. Those who still regarded them 
as men, and who had not yet lost all affection to them as 
brethren, who also retained hopes that a happy reconciliation 
upon constitutional principles, without sacrificing the dignity 
or the just authority of government on the one side, or a 
dereliction of the rights of freemen on the other, was not 
even now impossible, notwithstanding their favorable disposi- 
tions in general could not help feeling upon this occasion 
that the Americans sank not a little in their estimation. It 
was not difficult to diffuse an opinion that the war in effect 
was over ; and that any further resistance could serve only 
to render the terms of their submission the worse. Such 
were some of the immediate effects of the loss of t^ose grand 
keys of North America, Ticonderoga and the lakes." 

The astonishment and alarm which these events produced 
among the Americans were naturally great ; but in the midst 
of their disasters none of the colonists showed any disposi- 



1777] BATTLE OF SARATOGA 329 

tion to submit. The local governments of the New England 
states, as well as the Congress, acted with vigor and firmness 
in their efforts to repel the enemy. General Gates was sent 
to take command of the army at Saratoga; and Arnold, a 
favorite leader of the Americans, was despatched by Wash- 
ington to act under him, with reenforcements of troops and 
guns from the main American army. Burgoyne's employ- 
ment of the Indians now produced the worst possible effects. 
Though he labored hard to check the atrocities which they 
were accustomed to commit, he could not prevent the occur- 
rence of many barbarous outrages, repugnant both to the 
feelings of humanity and to the laws of civilized warfare. 
The American commanders took care that the reports of 
these excesses should be circulated far and wide, well know- 
ing that they would make the stern New Englanders not 
droop, but rage. Such was their effect ; and though, when 
each man looked upon his wife, his children, his sisters, or 
his aged parents, the thought of the merciless Indian " thirst- 
ing for the blood of man, woman, and child," of "the canni- 
bal savage torturing, murdering, roasting, and eating the 
mangled victims of his barbarous battles" [Chatham], might 
raise terror in the bravest breasts, this very terror produced 
a directly contrary effect to causing submission to the royal 
army. It was seen that the few friends of the royal cause, 
as well as its enemies, were liable to be the victims of the 
indiscriminate rage of the savages ; and thus "the inhabitants 
of the open and frontier countries had no choice of acting : 
they had no means of security left but by abandoning their 
habitations and taking up arms. Every man saw the neces- 
sity of becoming a temporary soldier, not only for his own 
security, but for the protection and defense of those connec- 
tions which are dearer than life itself." Thus an army was 
poured forth by the woods, mountains, and marshes, which 
in this part were thickly sown with plantations and villages. 
The Americans recalled their courage ; and when their regu- 
lar army seemed to be entirely wasted, the spirit of the coun- 
try produced a much greater and more formidable force. 

While resolute recruits, accustomed to the use of firearms 
and all partially trained by service in the provincial militias, 
were thus flocking to the standard of Gates and Arnold at 



330 DECISIVE BATTLES [i777 

Saratoga, and while Burgoyne was engaged at Fort Edward 
in providing the means for the further advance of his army 
through the intricate and hostile country that still lay before 
him, two events occurred, in each of which the British sus- 
tained loss and the Americans obtained advantage, the moral 
effects of which were even more important than the immedi- 
ate result of the encounters. When Burgoyne left Canada, 
General St. Leger was detached from that province with a 
mixed force of about one thousand men, and some light field- 
pieces, across Lake Ontario against Fort Stanwix, which the 
Americans held. After capturing this, he was to march along 
the Mohawk River to its confluence with the Hudson, between 
Saratoga and Albany, where his force and that of Burgoyne 
were to unite. But, after some successes, St. Leger was 
obliged to retreat, and to abandon his tents and large quanti- 
ties of stores to the garrison. At the very time that General 
Burgoyne heard of this disaster, he experienced one still more 
severe in the defeat of Colonel Baum with a large detach- 
ment of German troops at Bennington, whither Burgoyne had 
sent them for the purpose of capturing some magazines of 
provisions, of which the British army stood greatly in need. 
The Americans, augmented by continual accessions of strength, 
succeeded, after many attacks, in breaking this corps, which 
fled into the woods, and left its commander mortally wounded 
on the field ; they then marched against a force of five hun- 
dred grenadiers and light infantry, which was advancing to 
Colonel Baum's assistance under Lieutenant-colonel Brey- 
man, who, after a gallant resistance, was obliged to retreat 
on the main army. The British loss in these two actions 
exceeded six hundred men ; and a party of American loyalists 
on their way to join the army, having attached themselves to 
Colonel Baum's corps, were destroyed with it. 

Notwithstanding these reverses, which added greatly to the 
spirit and numbers of the American forces, Burgoyne deter- 
mined to advance. It was impossible any longer to keep up 
his communications with Canada by way of the lakes, so as 
to supply his army on his southward march ; but having by 
unremitting exertions collected provisions for thirty days, he 
crossed the Hudson by means of a bridge of rafts, and, march- 
ing a short distance along its western bank, he encamped on 



1777] BATTLE OF SARATOGA 33 1 

the 14th of September on the heights of Saratoga, about six- 
teen miles from Albany. The Americans had fallen back 
from Saratoga, and were now strongly posted near Stillwater, 
about half-way between Saratoga and Albany, and showed a 
determination to recede no farther. 

Meanwhile Lord Howe, with the bulk of the British army 
that had lain at New York, had sailed away to the Delaware, 
and there commenced a campaign against Washington, in 
which the English general took Philadelphia, and gained other 
showy but unprofitable successes. But Sir Henry Clinton, 
a brave and skilful officer, was left with a considerable force 
at New York ; and he undertook the task of moving up the 
Hudson to cooperate with Burgoyne. Clinton was obliged, 
for this purpose, to wait for reenforcements which had been 
promised from England, and these did not arrive till Septem- 
ber. As soon as he received them, Clinton embarked about 
3000 of his men on a flotilla, convoyed by some ships of war 
under Commander Hotham, and proceeded to force his way 
up the river ; but it was long before he was able to open any 
communication with Burgoyne. 

The country between Burgoyne's position at Saratoga and 
that of the Americans at Stillwater was rugged, and seamed 
with creeks and watercourses ; but after great labor in making 
bridges and temporary causeways, the British army moved for- 
ward. About four miles from Saratoga, on the afternoon of 
the 19th of September, a sharp encounter took place between 
part of the English right wing, under Burgoyne himself, and 
a strong body of the enemy, under Gates and Arnold. The 
conflict lasted till sunset. The British remained masters of 
the field ; but the loss on each side was nearly equal (from 
five hundred to six hundred men); and the spirits of the 
Americans were greatly raised by having withstood the best 
regular troops of the English army. Burgoyne now halted 
again, and strengthened his position by field-works and re- 
doubts ; and the Americans also improved their defenses. 
The two armies remained nearly within cannon-shot of each 
other for a considerable time, during which Burgoyne was 
anxiously looking for intelligence of the promised expedition 
from New York, which, according to the original plan, ought 
by this time to have been approaching Albany from the 



332 DECISIVE BATTLES [1777 

south. At last a messenger from Clinton made his way with 
great difficulty to Burgoyne's camp, and brought the informa- 
tion that Clinton was on his way up the Hudson to attack 
the American forts which barred the passage up that river 
to Albany. Burgoyne, in reply, on the 30th of September, 
urged Clinton to attack the forts as speedily as possible, stat- 
ing that the effect of such an attack, or even the semblance 
of it, would be to move the American army from its position 
before his own troops. By another messenger, who reached 
Clinton on the 5th of October, Burgoyne informed his brother 
general that he had lost his communications with Canada, but 
had provisions which would last him till the 20th. Burgoyne 
described himself as strongly posted, and stated that, though 
the Americans in front of him were strongly posted also, he 
made no doubt of being able to force them and making his 
way to Albany ; but that he doubted whether he could subsist 
there, as the country was drained of provisions. He wished 
Clinton to meet him there and to keep open a communication 
with New York. 

Burgoyne had overestimated his resources, and in the very 
beginning of October found difficulty and distress pressing 
him hard. 

The Indians and Canadians began to desert him; while, 
on the other hand, Gates's army was continually reenforced 
by fresh bodies of the militia. An expeditionary force was 
detached by the Americans, which made a bold though un- 
successful attempt to retake Ticonderoga. And finding the 
number and spirit of the enemy to increase daily, and his 
own stores of provisions to diminish, Burgoyne determined 
on attacking the Americans in front of him, and by dislodg- 
ing them from their position to gain the means of moving 
upon Albany, or at least of relieving his troops from the 
straitened position in which they were cooped up. 

Burgoyne's force was now reduced to less than 6000 men. 
The right of his camp was on some high ground a little to 
the west of the river ; thence his entrenchments extended 
along the lower ground to the bank of the Hudson, the line 
of their front being nearly at a right angle with the course of 
the stream. The lines were fortified with redoubts and field- 
works, and on a height on the flank of the extreme right a 



1777] BATTLE OF SARATOGA 333 

strong redoubt was reared, and entrenchments, in a horseshoe 
form, thrown up. The Hessians, under Colonel Breyman, 
were stationed here, forming a flank defense to Burgoyne's 
main army. The numerical force of the Americans was now 
greater than the British, even in regular troops, and the num- 
bers of the militia and volunteers which had joined Gates and 
Arnold were greater still. 

General Lincoln, with 2000 New England troops, had 
reached the American camp on the 29th of September. 
Gates gave him the command of the right wing, and took 
in person the command of the left wing, which was com- 
posed of two brigades under Generals Poor and Learned, of 
Colonel Morgan's rifle-corps, and part of the fresh New Eng- 
land militia. The whole of the American lines had been 
ably fortified under the direction of the celebrated Polish 
general, Kosciusko, who was now serving as a volunteer in 
Gates's army. The right of the American position — that 
is to say, the part of it nearest to the river — was too strong 
to be assailed with any prospect of success, and Burgoyne 
therefore determined to endeavor to force their left. For 
this purpose he formed a column of 1 500 regular troops, with 
two twelve-pounders, two howitzers, and six six-pounders. 
He headed this in person, having Generals Phillips, Riedesel, 
and Eraser under him. The enemy's force immediately in 
front of his lines was so strong that he dared not weaken the 
troops who guarded them by detaching any more to strengthen 
his column of attack. 

It was on the 7th of October that Burgoyne led his column 
forward ; and on the preceding day, the 6th, Clinton had suc- 
cessfully executed a brilliant enterprise against the two Ameri- 
can forts which barred his progress up the Hudson. He had 
captured them both, with severe loss to the American forces 
opposed to him ; he had destroyed the fleet which the Ameri- 
cans had been forming on the Hudson, under protection of 
their forts ; and the upward river was laid open to his squad- 
ron. He had also, with admirable skill and industry, collected 
in small vessels, such as could float within a few miles of 
Albany, provisions sufficient to supply Burgoyne's army for 
six months. He was now only a hundred and fifty-six miles 
distant from Burgoyne; and a detachment of 1700 men actu- 



334 DECISIVE BATTLES [1777 

ally advanced within forty miles of Albany. Unfortunately, 
Burgoyne and Clinton were each ignorant of the other's 
movements ; but if Burgoyne had won his battle on the 7th, 
he must, on advancing, have soon learned the tidings of Clin- 
ton's success, and Clinton would have heard of his. A junc- 
tion would soon have been made of the two victorious armies, 
and the great objects of the campaign might yet have been 
accomplished. All depended on the fortune of the column 
with which Burgoyne, on the eventful 7th of October, 1777, 
advanced against the American position. There were brave 
men, both English and German, in its ranks ; and in particu- 
lar it comprised one of the best bodies of grenadiers in the 
British service. 

Burgoyne pushed forward some bodies of irregular troops 
to distract the enemy's attention, and led his column to within 
three quarters of a mile from the left of Gates's camp, and 
then deployed his men into line. The grenadiers under 
Major Ackland, and the artillery under Major Williams, were 
drawn up on the left ; a corps of Germans under General 
Riedesel, and some British troops under General Phillips, 
were in the center ; and the English light infantry, and the 
24th Regiment under Lord Balcarres and General Eraser, 
were on the right. But Gates did not wait to be attacked ; 
and directly the British line was formed and began to advance, 
the American general, with admirable skill, caused General 
Poor's brigade of New York and New Hampshire troops, 
and part of General Learned's brigade, to make a sudden 
and vehement rush against its left, and at the same time sent 
Colonel Morgan, with his rifle-corps and other troops, amount- 
ing to 1500, to turn the right of the English. The grena- 
diers under Ackland sustained the charge of superior numbers 
nobly. But Gates sent more Americans forward, and in a few 
minutes the action became general along the center, so as to 
prevent the Germans from detaching any help to the grena- 
diers. Morgan, with his riflemen, was now pressing Lord 
Balcarres and General Eraser hard, and fresh masses of the 
enemy were observed advancing from their extreme left, with 
the evident intention of forcing the British right, and cutting 
off its retreat. The English light infantry and the 24th now 
fell back and formed an oblique second line, which enabled 



1777] BATTLE OF SARATOGA 335 

them to baffle this maneuver and also to succor their com- 
rades in the left wing, the gallant grenadiers, who were over- 
powered by superior numbers and, but for this aid, must 
have been cut to pieces. 

The contest now was fiercely maintained on both sides. 
The English cannon were repeatedly taken and retaken ; but 
when the grenadiers near them were forced back by the 
weight of superior numbers, one of the guns was permanently 
captured by the Americans, and turned upon the English. 
Major Williams and Major Ackland were both made prisoners, 
and in this part of the field the advantage of the Americans 
was decided. The British center still held its ground ; but 
now it was that the American general Arnold appeared upon 
the scene and did more for his countrymen than whole bat- 
talions could have effected. Arnold, when the decisive 
engagement of the 7th of October commenced, had been 
deprived of his command by Gates, in consequence of a 
quarrel between them about the action of the 19th of Sep- 
tember. He had listened for a short time in the American 
camp to the thunder of the battle, in which he had no military 
right to take part, either as commander or as combatant. 
But his excited spirit could not long endure such a state of 
inaction. He called for his horse, a powerful brown charger, 
and, springing on it, galloped furiously to where the fight 
seemed to be the thickest. Gates saw him, and sent an aide- 
de-camp to recall him ; but Arnold spurred far in advance, 
and placed himself at the head of three regiments which had 
formerly been under him, and which welcomed their old com- 
mander with joyous cheers. He led them instantly upon the 
British center ; and then, galloping along the American line, 
he issued orders for a renewed and a closer attack, which 
were obeyed with alacrity, Arnold himself setting the example 
of the most daring personal bravery and charging more than 
once, sword in hand, into the English ranks. On the British 
side the officers did their duty nobly ; but General Eraser was 
the most eminent of them all, restoring order wherever the 
line began to waver, and infusing fresh courage into his men 
by voice and example. Mounted on an iron-gray charger, 
and dressed in the full uniform of a general officer, he was 
conspicuous to foes as well as to friends. The American 



336 DECISIVE BATTLES [1777 

Colonel Morgan thought that the fate of the battle rested on 
this gallant man's life, and, calling several of his best marks- 
men round him, pointed Fraser out, and said : " That officer 
is General Fraser ; I admire him, but he must die. Our vic- 
tory depends on it. Take your stations in that clump of 
bushes, and do your duty." Within five minutes Fraser 
fell mortally wounded, and was carried to the British camp 
by two grenadiers. Just previously to his being struck by 
the fatal bullet, one rifle-ball had cut the crupper of his sad- 
dle and another had passed through his horse's mane close 
behind the ears. His aide-de-camp had noticed this, and said : 
" It is evident that you are marked out for particular aim ; 
would it not be prudent for you to retire from this place .-' " 
Fraser replied : " My duty forbids me to fly from danger " ; 
and the next moment he fell. 

Burgoyne's whole force were now compelled to retreat 
towards their camp. The left and center were in complete 
disorder, but the light infantry and the 24th checked the fury 
of the assailants, and the remains of the column with great 
difficulty effected their return to their camp, leaving six of 
their cannons in the possession of the enemy, and great num- 
bers of killed and wounded on the field ; and especially a 
large proportion of the artillerymen, who had stood to their 
guns until shot down or bayoneted beside them by the 
advancing Americans. 

Burgoyne's column had been defeated, but the action was 
not yet over. The English had scarcely entered the camp, 
when the Americans, pursuing their success, assaulted it in 
several places with remarkable impetuosity, rushing in upon 
the entrenchments and redoubts through a severe fire of 
grape-shot and musketry. Arnold especially, who on this 
day appeared maddened with the thirst of combat and car- 
nage, urged on the attack against a part of the entrenchments 
which was occupied by the light infantry under Lord Bal- 
carres. But the English received him with vigor and spirit. 
The struggle here was obstinate and sanguinary. At length, 
as it grew towards evening, Arnold, having forced all obsta- 
cles, entered the works with some of the most fearless of 
his followers. But in this critical moment of glory and 
danger, he received a painful wound in the same leg which 



1777] BATTLE OF SARATOGA 337 

had already been injured at the assault on Quebec. To his 
bitter regret he was obliged to be carried back. His party- 
still continued the attack, but the English also continued 
their obstinate resistance; and at last night fell, and the 
assailants withdrew from this quarter of the British entrench- 
ments. But in another part the attack had been more suc- 
cessful. A body of the Americans, under Colonel Brooke, 
forced their way in through a part of the horseshoe entrench- 
ments on the extreme right, which was defended by the Hes- 
sian reserve under Colonel Breyman. The Germans resisted 
well, and Breyman died in defense of his post ; but the 
Americans made good the ground which they had won, and 
captured baggage, tents, artillery, and a store of ammunition, 
which they were greatly in need of. They had, by establish- 
ing themselves on this point, acquired the means of com- 
pletely turning the right flank of the British and gaining 
their rear. To prevent this calamity, Burgoyne effected dur- 
ing the night an entire change of position. With great skill 
he removed his whole army to some heights near the river, a 
little northward of the former camp, and he there drew up 
his men, expecting to be attacked on the following day. But 
Gates was resolved not to risk the certain triumph which his 
success had already secured for him. He harassed the Eng- 
lish with skirmishes, but attempted no regular attack. Mean- 
while he detached bodies of troops on both sides of the 
Hudson to prevent the British from recrossing that river, 
and to bar their retreat. When night fell, it became abso- 
lutely necessary for Burgoyne to retire again, and, accordingly, 
the troops were marched through a stormy and rainy night 
towards Saratoga, abandoning their sick and wounded and 
the greater part of their baggage to the enemy. 

Before the rear-guard quitted the camp, the last sad honors 
were paid to the brave General Eraser, who expired on the 
day after the action. 

He had, almost with his last breath, expressed a wish to be 
buried in the redoubt which had formed the part of the British 
lines where he had been stationed, but which had now been 
abandoned by the English, and was within full range of the 
cannon which the advancing Americans were rapidly placing 
in position to bear upon Burgoyne's force. Burgoyne re- 



338 DECISIVE BATTLES [1777 

solved, nevertheless, to comply with the dying wish of his 
comrade ; and the interment took place under circumstances 
the most affecting that have ever marked a soldier's funeral. 
Still more interesting is the narrative of Lady Ackland's pas- 
sage from the British to the American camp, after the battle, 
to share the captivity and alleviate the sufferings of her hus- 
band, who had been severely wounded and left in the enemy's 
power. The American historian Lossing has described both 
these touching episodes of the campaign in a spirit that does 
honor to the writer as well as to his subject. After narrating 
the death of General Fraser on the 8th of October, he says 
that "it was just at sunset, on that calm October evening, 
that the corpse of General Fraser was carried up the hill to 
the place of burial within the * great redoubt.' It was at- 
tended only by the members of his military family and Mr. 
Brudenell, the chaplain ; yet the eyes of hundreds of both 
armies followed the solemn procession, while the Americans, 
ignorant of its true character, kept up a constant cannonade 
upon the redoubt. The chaplain, unawed by the danger to 
which he was exposed, as the cannon-balls that struck the 
hill threw the loose soil over him, pronounced the impressive 
funeral service of the Church of England with an unfaltering 
voice. The growing darkness added solemnity to the scene. 
Suddenly the irregular firing ceased, and the solemn voice of 
a single cannon, at measured intervals, boomed along the 
valley, and awakened the responses of the hills. It was a 
minute-gun fired by the Americans in honor of the gallant 
dead. The moment information was given that the gather- 
ing at the redoubt was a funeral company, fulfilling, amid 
imminent perils, the last-breathed wishes of the noble Fraser, 
orders were issued to withhold the cannonade with balls, and 
to render military homage to the fallen brave. 

"The case of Major Ackland and his heroic wife presents 
kindred features. He belonged to the corps of grenadiers, 
and was an accomplished soldier. His wife accompanied him 
to Canada in 1776, and during the whole campaign of that 
year, and until his return to England after the surrender of 
Burgoyne, in the autumn of 1777, endured all the hardships, 
dangers, and privations of an active campaign in an enemy's 
country. At Chambly, on the Sorel, she attended him in ill- 



1777] BATTLE OF SARATOGA 339 

ness, in a miserable hut ; and when he was wounded in the bat- 
tle of Hubbardton, Vermont, she hastened to him at Skenes- 
borough from Montreal, where she had been persuaded to 
remain, and resolved to follow the army thereafter. Just before 
crossing the Hudson, she and her husband came near losing 
their lives in consequence of their tent accidentally taking fire. 

"During the terrible engagement of the 7th of October, 
she heard all the tumult and dreadful thunder of the battle 
in which her husband was engaged ; and when, on the morn- 
ing of the 8th, the British fell back in confusion to Wilbur's 
Basin, she, with the other women, was obliged to take refuge 
among the dead and dying ; for the tents were all struck, and 
hardly a shed was left standing. Her husband was wounded, 
and a prisoner in the American camp. That gallant officer 
was shot through both legs when Poor and Learned's troops 
assaulted the grenadiers and artillery on the British left, on 
the afternoon of the 7th. Wilkinson, Gates's adjutant-general, 
while pursuing the flying enemy when they abandoned their 
battery, heard a feeble voice exclaim, ' Protect me, sir, against 
that boy.' He turned and saw a lad with a musket taking 
deliberate aim at a wounded British officer, lying in a corner 
of a worm fence. Wilkinson ordered the boy to desist, and 
discovered the wounded man to be Major Ackland. He had 
him conveyed to the quarters of General Poor (now the resi- 
dence of Mr. Neilson) on the heights, where every attention 
was paid to his wants. 

" When the intelligence that he was wounded and a prisoner 
reached his wife, she was greatly distressed, and, by the advice 
of her friend, Baron Riedesel, resolved to visit the American 
camp and implore the favor of a personal attendance upon 
her husband. On the 9th she sent a message to Burgoyne 
by Lord Petersham, his aide, asking permission to depart. 
'Though I was ready to believe,' says Burgoyne, 'that pa- 
tience and fortitude, in a supreme degree, were to be found, 
as well as every other virtue, under the most tender forms, I 
was astonished at this proposal. After so long an agitation 
of spirits, exhausted not only for want of rest but absolute 
want of food, drenched in rain for twelve hours together, that 
a woman should be capable of such an undertaking as deliver- 
ing herself to an enemy, probably in the night, and uncertain 



340 DECISIVE BATTLES [1777 

of what hands she might fall into, appeared an effort above 
human nature. The assistance I was enabled to give was 
small indeed. I had not even a cup of wine to offer her. 
All I could furnish to her was an open boat, and a few lines, 
written upon dirty wet paper, to General Gates, recommend- 
ing her to his protection.' 

"The following is a copy of the note from Burgoyne to 
General Gates : ' Sir, — Lady Harriet Ackland, a lady of the 
first distinction of family, rank, and personal virtues, is under 
such concern on account of Major Ackland, her husband, 
wounded and a prisoner in your hands, that I cannot refuse 
her request to commit her to your protection. Whatever gen- 
eral impropriety there may be in persons in my situation and 
yours to solicit favors, I cannot see the uncommon persever- 
ance in every female grace and exaltation of character of this 
lady, and her very hard fortune, without testifying that your 
attentions to her will lay me under obligations. I am, sir, 
your obedient servant, J. Burgoyne.' 

" She set out in an open boat upon the Hudson, accom- 
panied by Mr. Brudenell, the chaplain, Sarah Pollard her 
waiting-maid, and her husband's valet, who had been severely 
wounded while searching for his master upon the battle-field. 
It was about sunset when they started, and a violent storm 
of rain and wind, which had been increasing since morning, 
rendered the voyage tedious and perilous in the extreme. It 
was long after dark when they reached the American out- 
posts ; the sentinel heard their oars and hailed them. Lady 
Harriet returned the answer herself. The clear, silvery tones 
of a woman's voice amid the darkness filled the soldier on 
duty with superstitious fear, and he called a comrade to 
accompany him to the river bank. The errand of the voy- 
agers was made known, but the faithful guard, apprehensive 
of treachery, would not allow them to land until they sent for 
Major Dearborn. They were invited by that officer to his 
quarters, where every attention was paid to them and Lady 
Harriet was comforted by the joyful tidings that her husband 
was safe. In the morning she experienced parental tender- 
ness from General Gates, who sent her to her husband, at 
Poor's quarters, under a suitable escort. There she remained 
until he was removed to Albany." 



1 777 J BATTLE OF SARATOGA 34 1 

Burgoyne now took up his last position on the heights near 
Saratoga ; and, hemmed in by the enemy, who refused any 
encounter, and baffled in all his attempts at finding a path of 
escape, he there lingered until famine compelled him to capit- 
ulate. The fortitude of the British army during this melan- 
choly period has been justly eulogized by many native 
historians, but I prefer quoting the testimony of a foreign 
writer, as free from all possibility of partiality. Botta says : — 

" It exceeds the power of words to describe the pitiable 
condition to which the British army was now reduced. The 
troops were worn down by a series of toil, privation, sickness, 
and desperate fighting. They were abandoned by the Indians 
and Canadians ; and the effective force of the whole army 
was now diminished by repeated and heavy losses, which had 
principally fallen on the best soldiers and the most distin- 
guished officers, from ten thousand combatants to less than 
one half that number. Of this remnant little more than 
three thousand were English. 

" In these circumstances, and thus weakened, they were in- 
vested by an army of four times their own number, whose posi- 
tion extended three parts of a circle round them ; who refused 
to fight them, as knowing their weakness, and who, from the 
nature of the ground, could not be attacked in any part. In 
this helpless condition, obliged to be constantly under arms 
while the enemy's cannon played on every part of their camp 
and even the American rifle-balls whistled in many parts of 
the lines, the troops of Burgoyne retained their customary 
firmness ; and, while sinking under a hard necessity, they 
showed themselves worthy of a better fate. They could not 
be reproached with an action or a word which betrayed a 
want of temper or of fortitude." 

At length the 13th of October arrived, and as no prospect 
of assistance appeared and the provisions were nearly ex- 
hausted, Burgoyne, by the unanimous advice of a council of 
war, sent a messenger to the American camp to treat of a 
convention. 

General Gates, in the first instance, demanded that the 
royal army should surrender prisoners of war. He also pro- 
posed that the British should ground their arms. Burgoyne 
replied, *' This article is inadmissible in e-very extremity ; 



342 DECISIVE BATTLES [1777 

sooner than this army will consent to ground their arms in 
their encampment, they will rush on the enemy, determined 
to take no quarter." After various messages, a convention 
for the surrender of the army was settled, which provided 
that "the troops under General Burgoyne were to march out 
of their camp with the honors of war, and the artillery of the 
entrenchments, to the verge of the river, where the arms and 
artillery were to be left. The arms to be piled by word of 
command from their own officers. A free passage was to be 
granted to the army under Lieutenant-general Burgoyne to 
■Great Britain, upon condition of not serving again in North 
.America during the present contest." 

The articles of capitulation were settled on the 15th of 
October ; and on that very evening a messenger arrived from 
Clinton with an account of his successes, and with the tidings 
that part of his force had penetrated as far as Esopus, within 
fifty miles of Burgoyne's camp. But it was too late. The 
public faith was pledged ; and the army was, indeed, too 
debilitated by fatigue and hunger to resist an attack if made ; 
and Gates certainly would have made it, if the convention had 
been broken off. Accordingly, on the 17th, the convention 
of Saratoga was carried into effect. By this convention 
5790 men surrendered themselves as prisoners. The sick 
and wounded left in the camp when the British retreated to 
Saratoga, together with the numbers of the British, German, 
and Canadian troops who were killed, wounded, or taken, 
and who had deserted in the preceding part of the expedition, 
were reckoned to be 4689. 

The British sick and wounded who had fallen into the 
hands of the Americans after the battle of the 7th were 
treated with exemplary humanity ; and when the convention 
was executed, General Gates showed a noble delicacy of feel- 
ing which deserves the highest degree of honor. Every cir- 
cumstance was avoided which could give the appearance of 
triumph. The American troops remained within their Hues 
until the British had piled their arms ; and when this was 
done, the vanquished officers and soldiers were received with 
friendly kindness by their victors, and their immediate wants 
were promptly and liberally supplied. Discussions and dis- 
putes afterwards arose as to some of the terms of the con- 



1777] BATTLE OF SARATOGA 343 

vention, and the American Congress refused for a long time 
to carry into effect the article which provided for the return 
of Burgoyne's men to Europe ; but no blame was imputable 
to General Gates or his army, who showed themselves to be 
generous as they had proved themselves to be brave. 

Gates, after the victory, immediately despatched Colonel 
Wilkinson to carry the happy tidings to Congress. On being 
introduced into the hall, he said : " The whole British army 
has laid down its arms at Saratoga ; our own, full of vigor and 
courage, expect your order. It is for your wisdom to decide 
where the country may still have need for their service." 
Honors and rewards were liberally voted by the Congress to 
their conquering general and his men ; " and it would be diffi- 
cult" (says Botta) "to describe the transports of joy which 
the news of this event excited among the Americans. They 
began to flatter themselves with a still more happy future. 
No one any longer felt any doubt about their achieving their 
independence. All hoped, and with good reason, that a suc- 
cess of this importance would at length determine France, 
and the other European powers that waited for her example, 
to declare themselves in favor of America. There could no 
longer be any question respecting the future ; since there was 
no longer the risk of espousing the cause of a people too feeble 
to defend themselves." 

The truth of this was soon displayed in the conduct of 
France. When the news arrived at Paris of the capture of 
Ticonderoga and of the victorious march of Burgoyne 
towards Albany, events which seemed decisive in favor of 
the English, instructions had been immediately despatched 
to Nantes and the other ports of the kingdom that no Amer- 
ican privateers should be suffered to enter them except from 
indispensable necessity, as to repair their vessels, to obtain 
provisions, or to escape the perils of the sea. The American 
commissioners at Paris, in their disgust and despair, had 
almost broken off all negotiations with the French govern- 
ment ; and they even endeavored to open communications 
with the British ministry. But the British government, elated 
with the first successes of Burgoyne, refused to listen to any 
overtures for accommodation. But when the news of Saratoga 
reached Paris, the whole scene was changed. Franklin and 



344 DECISIVE BATTLES [1777 

his brother commissioners found all their difficulties with the 
French government vanish. The time seemed to have arrived 
for the house of Bourbon to take a full revenge for all its 
humiliations and losses in previous wars. In December a 
treaty was arranged, and formally signed in the February 
following, by which France acknowledged tJie Independent 
United States of America. This was, of course, tantamount to 
a declaration of war with England. Spain soon followed 
France ; and before long Holland took the same course. 
Largely aided by French fleets and troops, the Americans 
vigorously maintained the war against the armies which Eng- 
land, in spite of her European foes, continued to send across 
the Atlantic. But the struggle was too unequal to be main- 
tained by this country for many years ; and when the treaties 
of 1783 restored peace to the world, the independence of the 
United States was reluctantly recognized by their ancient 
parent and recent enemy, England. 

Notes 

^ Written in 1851. 

2 These remarks were written in May, 1851, and now, in May, 1852, a 
powerful squadron of American war steamers has been sent to Japan, for 
the ostensible purpose of securing protection for the crews of American 
vessels shipwrecked on the Japanese coasts, but also evidently for important 
ulterior purposes. 

3 In Lord Albemarle's " Memoirs of the Marquis of Rockingham " is con- 
tained the following remarkable state paper, drawn up by King George III. 
himself, respecting the plan of Burgoyne's expedition. The original is in 
the king's own hand. 

"remarks on the conduct of the war from CANADA 

" The outlines of the plan seem to be on a proper foundation. The rank 
and file of the army now in Canada (including the nth Regiment of British, 
M'Clean's corps, the Bruns wicks and Hanover) amount to 10,527 ; add 
the eleven additional companies and four hundred Hanover Chasseurs, the 
total will be 11,443. 

" As sickness and other contingencies must be expected, I should think 
not above 7000 effectives can be spared over Lake Champlain ; for it would 
be highly imprudent to run any risk in Canada. 

" The fixing the stations of those left in the provinces may not be quite 
right, though the plan proposed may be recommended. Indians must be 
employed, and this measure must be avowedly directed, and Carleton must 
be in the strongest manner directed that the Apollo shall be ready by that 
day to receive Burgoyne. 



1777] BATTLE OF SARATOGA 345 

" The magazines must be formed with the greatest expedition at Crown 
Point. 

" If possible, possession must be taken of Lake George, and nothing but 
an absolute impossibility of succeeding in this can be an excuse for pro- 
ceeding by South Bay and Skeenborough. 

" As Sir W. Howe does not think of acting from Rhode Island into the 
Massachusets, the force from Canada must join him in Albany. 

" The diversion on the Mohawk River ought at least to be strengthened 
by the addition of the four hundred Hanover Chasseurs. 

" The Ordnance ought to furnish a complete proportion of intrenching 
tools. 

" The provisions ought to be calculated for a third more than the effective 
soldiery, and the general ordered to avoid delivering these when the army 
can be subsisted by the country. Burgoyne certainly greatly undervalues 
the German recruits. 

" The idea of carrying the army by sea to Sir W. Howe would certainly 
require the leaving a much larger part of it in Canada, as in that case the 
rebel army would divide that province from the immense one under Sir 
W. Howe. I greatly dislike this last idea." 

Synopsis of Events between the Defeat of Burgoyne 
AT Saratoga, 1777, and the Battle of Valmy, 1792 

1 78 1. Surrender of Lord Cornwallis and the British army 
to Washington. 

1782. Rodney's victory over the Spanish fleet. Unsuc- 
cessful siege of Gibraltar by the Spaniards and French. 

1783. End of the American war. 

1788. The States-General are convened in France: begin- 
ning of the Revolution. 



346 DECISIVE BATTLES [1792 



CHAPT,pR XIV 

The Battle of Valmy, 1792 

" Purpurei metuunt tyranni 
Injurioso ne pede proruas 
Stantem columnam ; neu populus frequens 
Ad arma cessantes ad arma 
Concitet, imperiumque frangat." 

— HoRATius, Od. i., 35. 

" A little fire is quickly trodden out, 
Which, being suffered, rivers cannot quench." 

— Shakespeare. 

A FEW miles distant from the little town of St. Mene- 
hould, in the northeast of France, are the village and 
hill of Valmy; and near the crest of that hill a simple 
monument points out the burial-place of the heart of a gen- 
eral of the French republic and a marshal of the French 
empire. 

The elder Kellermann (father of the distinguished ofificer 
of that name whose cavalry charge decided the battle of Ma- 
rengo) held high commands in the French armies through- 
out the wars of the Convention, the Directory, the Consulate, 
and the Empire. He survived those wars and the Empire 
itself, dying in extreme old age in 1820. The last wish of 
the veteran on his death-bed was that his heart should be 
deposited in the battle-field of Valmy, there to repose among 
the remains of his old companions in arms who had fallen at 
his side on that spot twenty-eight years before, on the memo- 
rable day when they won the primal victory of revolutionary 
France, and prevented the armies of Brunswick and the emi- 
grant bands of Conde from marching on defenseless Paris 
and destroying the immature democracy in its cradle. 

The Duke of Valmy (for Kellermann, when made one of 
Napoleon's military peers in 1802, took his title from this 



1792] BATTLE OF VALMY 347 

same battle-field) had participated, during his long and active 
career, in the gaining of many a victory far more immediately 
dazzling than the one the remembrance of which he thus 
cherished. He had been present at many a scene of car- 
nage, where blood flowed in deluges, compared with which 
the libations of slaughter poured out at Valmy would have 
seemed scant and insignificant. But he rightly estimated 
the paramount importance of the battle with which he thus 
wished his appellation while living, and his memory after his 
death, to be identified. The successful resistance which the 
new Carmagnole levies, and the disorganized relics of the old 
monarchy's army, then opposed to the combined hosts and 
chosen leaders of Prussia, Austria, and the French refugee 
noblesse, determined at once and forever the belligerent char- 
acter of the Revolution. The raw artisans and tradesmen, the 
clumsy burghers, the base mechanics and low peasant churls, 
as it had been the fashion to term the middle and lower 
classes in France, found that they could face cannon-balls, 
pull triggers, and cross bayonets without having been drilled 
into military machines, and without being officered by scions 
of noble houses. They awoke to the consciousness of their 
own instinctive soldiership. They at once acquired confi- 
dence in themselves and in each other ; and that confidence 
soon grew into a spirit of unbounded audacity and ambition. 
" From the cannonade of Valmy may be dated the com- 
mencement of that career of victory which carried their 
armies to Vienna and the Kremlin." [Alison.] 

One of the gravest reflections that arise from the con- 
templation of the civil restlessness and military enthusiasm 
which the close of the last century saw nationalized in France 
is the consideration that these disturbing influences have be- 
come perpetual. No settled system of government that shall 
endure from generation to generation, that shall be proof 
against corruption and popular violence, seems capable of 
taking root among the French. And every revolutionary 
movement in Paris thrills throughout the rest of the world. 
Even the successes which the powers allied against France 
gained in 18 14 and 181 5, important as they were, could not 
annul the effects of the preceding twenty-three years of gen- 
eral convulsion and war. 



348 DECISIVE BATTLES [1792 

In 1830 the dynasty which foreign bayonets had imposed 
on France was shaken off; and men trembled at the ex- 
pected outbreak of French anarchy and the dreaded inroads 
of French ambition. They " looked forward with harassing 
anxiety to a period of destruction similar to that which the 
Roman world experienced about the middle of the third cen- 
tury of our era." Louis Philippe cajoled revolution, and 
then strove with seeming success to stifle it. But in spite of 
Fieschi laws, in spite of the dazzle of Algerian razzias and 
Pyrenees-effacing marriages, in spite of hundreds of armed 
forts and hundreds of thousands of coercing troops, Revolu- 
tion lived and struggled to get free. The old Titan spirit 
heaved restlessly beneath "the monarchy based on repub- 
lican institutions." At last, four years ago, the whole fabric 
of kingcraft was at once rent and scattered to the winds by 
the uprising of the Parisian democracy ; and insurrections, 
barricades, and dethronements, the downfall of coronets and 
crowns, the armed collisions of parties, systems, and popula- 
tions, became the commonplaces of recent European history. 

France now calls herself a republic. She first assumed 
that title on the 20th of September, 1792, on the very day 
on which the battle of Valmy was fought and won. To that 
battle the democratic spirit which in 1848, as well as in 1792, 
proclaimed the republic in Paris, owed its preservation, and 
it is thence that the imperishable activity of its principles 
may be dated. 

Far different seemed the prospects of democracy in Europe 
on the eve of that battle ; and far different would have been 
the present position and influence of the French nation if 
Brunswick's columns had charged with more boldness, or 
the lines of Dumouriez resisted with less firmness. When 
France, in 1792, declared war with the great powers of 
Europe, she was far from possessing that splendid military 
organization which the experience of a few revolutionary 
campaigns taught her to assume, and which she has never 
abandoned. The army of the old monarchy had, during 
the latter part of the reign of Louis XV., sunk into gradual 
decay, both in numerical force and in efficiency of equip- 
ment and spirit. The laurels gained by the auxiliary regi- 
ments which Louis XVI. sent to the American war did but 



1792] BATTLE OF VALMY 349 

little to restore the general tone of the army. The insub- 
ordination and license which the revolt of the French guards, 
and the participation of other troops in many of the first 
excesses of the Revolution, introduced among the soldiery 
were soon rapidly disseminated through all the ranks. Under 
the Legislative Assembly every complaint of the soldier 
against his officer, however frivolous or ill founded, was lis- 
tened to with eagerness and investigated with partiality, on 
the principles of liberty and equality. Discipline accordingly 
became more and more relaxed ; and the dissolution of sev- 
eral of the old corps, under the pretext of their being tainted 
with an aristocratic feeling, aggravated the confusion and 
inefficiency of the War Department. Many of the most 
effective regiments during the last period of the monarchy 
had consisted of foreigners. These had either been slaugh- 
tered in defense of the throne against insurrections, like the 
Swiss ; or had been disbanded, and had crossed the frontier 
to recruit the forces which were assembling for the invasion 
of France. Above all, the emigration of the noblesse had 
stripped the French army of nearly all its officers of high 
rank and of the greatest portion of its subalterns. More 
than twelve thousand of the high-born youth of France, who 
had been trained to regard military command as their exclu- 
sive patrimony and to whom the nation had been accus- 
tomed to look up as its natural guides and champions in the 
storm of war, were now marshaled beneath the banner of 
Conde and the other emigrant princes, for the overthrow of 
the French armies and the reduction of the French capital. 
Their successors in the French regiments and brigades had 
as yet acquired neither skill nor experience : they possessed 
neither self-reliance nor the respect of the men who were 
under them. 

Such was the state of the wrecks of the old army ; but the 
bulk of the forces with which France began the war con- 
sisted of raw insurrectionary levies, which were even less 
to be depended on. The Carmagnoles, as the revolutionary 
volunteers were called, flocked, indeed, readily to the frontier 
from every department when the war was proclaimed, and 
the fierce leaders of the Jacobins shouted that the country 
was in danger. They were full of zeal and courage, ** heated 



350 DECISIVE BATTLES [1792 

and excited by the scenes of the Revolution, and inflamed by 
the florid eloquence, the songs, dances, and signal words with 
which it had been celebrated." But they were utterly undis- 
ciplined, and turbulently impatient of superior authority or 
systematical control. Many ruffians, also, who were sullied 
with participation in the most sanguinary horrors of Paris, 
joined the camps and were preeminent alike for misconduct 
before the enemy and for savage insubordination against 
their own offlcers. On one occasion during the campaign 
of Valmy, eight battalions of federates, intoxicated with 
massacre and sedition, joined the forces under Dumouriez, 
and soon threatened to uproot all discipline, saying openly 
that the ancient officers were traitors, and that it was neces- 
sary to purge the army, as they had Paris, of its aristocrats. 
Dumouriez posted these battalions apart from the others, 
placed a strong force of cavalry behind them and two pieces 
of cannon on their flank. Then, affecting to review them, he 
halted at the head of the line, surrounded by all his staff, and 
an escort of a hundred hussars. "Fellows," said he, "for I 
will not call you either citizens or soldiers, you see before you 
this artillery, behind you this cavalry ; you are stained with 
crimes, and I do not tolerate here assassins or executioners. 
I know that there are scoundrels amongst you charged to 
excite you to crime. Drive them from amongst you, or 
denounce them to me, for I shall hold you responsible for 
their conduct." 

One of our recent historians of the Revolution [Carlyle], who 
narrates this incident, thus apostrophizes the French general : 

" Patience, Dumouriez ! This uncertain heap of shriekers, 
mutineers, were they once drilled and inured, will become a 
phalanxed mass of fighters ; and wheel and whirl to order 
swiftly, like the wind or the whirlwind ; tanned mustache- 
figures ; often barefoot, even barebacked, with sinews of iron ; 
who require only bread and gunpowder ; very sons of fire ; 
the adroitest, hastiest, hottest, ever seen perhaps since Attila's 
time." 

Such phalanxed masses of fighters did the Carmagnoles 
ultimately become; but France ran a fearful risk in being 
obliged to rely on them when the process of their transmuta- 
tion had barely commenced. 



1792] BATTLE OF VALMY 351 

The first events, indeed, of the war were disastrous and 
disgraceful to France, even beyond what might have been 
expected from the chaotic state in which it found her armies 
as well as her government. In the hopes of profiting by the 
unprepared state of Austria, then the mistress of the Nether- 
lands, the French opened the campaign of 1792 by an invasion 
of Flanders, with forces whose muster-rolls showed a numeri- 
cally overwhelming superiority to the enemy, and seemed to 
promise a speedy conquest of that old battle-field of Europe. 
But the first flash of an Austrian saber or the first sound of 
an Austrian gun was enough to discomfit the French. Their 
first corps, four thousand strong, that advanced from Lille 
across the frontier, came suddenly upon a far inferior detach- 
ment of the Austrian garrison of Tournay. Not a shot was 
fired, not a bayonet leveled. With one simultaneous cry of 
panic the French broke and ran headlong back to Lille, where 
they completed the specimen of insubordination which they 
had given in the field by murdering their general and several 
of their chief officers. On the same day, another division 
under Biron, mustering ten thousand sabers and bayonets, 
saw a few Austrian skirmishers reconnoitering their position. 
The French advanced posts had scarcely given and received 
a volley, and only a few balls from the enemy's field-pieces 
had fallen among the lines, when two regiments of French 
dragoons raised the cry, " We are betrayed," galloped off, 
and were followed in disgraceful rout by the rest of the whole 
army. Similar panics, or repulses almost equally discreditable, 
occurred whenever Rochambeau, or Luckner, or La Fayette, 
the earliest French generals in the war, brought their troops 
into the presence of the enemy. 

Meanwhile, the allied sovereigns had gradually collected on 
the Rhine a veteran and finely disciplined army for the in- 
vasion of France, which for numbers, equipment, and martial 
renown, both of generals and men, was equal to any that 
Germany had ever sent forth to conquer. Their design was 
to strike boldly and decisively at the heart of France, and, 
penetrating the country through the Ardennes, to proceed by 
Chalons upon Paris. The obstacles that lay in their way 
seemed insignificant. The disorder and imbecility of the 
French armies had been even augmented by the forced flight 



352 DECISIVE BATTLES [1792 

of La Fayette and a sudden change of generals. The only 
troops posted on or near the track by which the Allies were 
about to advance were the twenty-three thousand men at 
Sedan, whom La Fayette had commanded, and a corps of 
twenty thousand near Metz, the command of which had just 
been transferred from Luckner to Kellermann. There were 
only three fortresses which it was necessary for the Allies 
to capture or mask — Sedan, Longwy, and Verdun. The 
defenses and stores of these three were known to be 
wretchedly dismantled and insufficient; and when once these 
feeble barriers were overcome and Chalons reached, a fertile 
and unprotected country seemed to invite the invaders to that 
"military promenade to Paris" which they gaily talked of 
accomplishing. 

At the end of July the allied army, having completed all 
preparations for the campaign, broke up from its cantonments 
and, marching from Luxemburg upon Longwy, crossed the 
French frontier. Sixty thousand Prussians, trained in the 
school, and many of them under the eye, of the Great Fred- 
erick, heirs of the glories of the Seven Years' war, and uni- 
versally esteemed the best troops in Europe, marched in one 
column against the central point of attack. Forty-five thou- 
sand Austrians, the greater part of whom were picked troops 
and had served in the recent Turkish war, supplied two 
formidable corps that supported the flanks of the Prussians. 
There was also a powerful body of Hessians, and leagued 
with the Germans against the Parisian democracy came fifteen 
thousand of the noblest and bravest among the sons of France. 
In these corps of emigrants, many of the highest-born of the 
French nobility, scions of houses whose chivalric trophies 
had for centuries filled Europe with renown, served as rank 
and file. They looked on the road to Paris as the path which 
they were to carve out by their swords to victory, to honor, 
to the rescue of their king, to reunion with their families, to 
the recovery of their patrimony, and to the restoration of their 
order. 

Over this imposing army the allied sovereigns placed as 
generalissimo the Duke of Brunswick, one of the minor 
reigning princes of Germany, a statesman of no mean capac- 
ity, and who had acquired in the Seven Years' war a military 



1792] BATTLE OF VALMY 353 

reputation second only to that of the Great Frederick himself. 
He had been deputed a few years before to quell the popular 
movements which then took place in Holland; and he had 
put down the attempted revolution in that country with a 
promptitude and completeness which appeared to augur equal 
success to the army that now marched under his orders on a 
similar mission into France. 

Moving majestically forward, with leisurely deliberation 
that seemed to show the consciousness of superior strength 
and a steady purpose of doing their work thoroughly, the 
Allies appeared before Longwy on the 20th of August, and 
the dispirited and dependent garrison opened the gates of 
that fortress to them after the first shower of bombs. On 
the 2d of September the still more important stronghold of 
Verdun capitulated after scarcely the shadow of resistance. 

Brunswick's superior force was now interposed between 
Kellermann's troops on the left, and the other French army 
near Sedan, which La Fayette's flight had, for the time, left 
destitute of a commander. It was in the power of the Ger- 
man general, by striking with an overwhelming mass to the 
right and left, to crush in succession each of these weak 
armies, and the Allies might then have marched irresistible 
and unresisted upon Paris. But at this crisis Dumouriez, the 
new commander-in-chief of the French, arrived at the camp 
near Sedan, and commenced a series of movements by which 
he reunited the dispersed and disorganized forces of his 
country, checked the Prussian columns at the very moment 
when the last obstacles to their triumph seemed to have 
given way, and finally rolled back the tide of invasion far 
across the enemy's frontier. 

The French fortresses had fallen ; but nature herself still 
offered to brave and vigorous defenders of the land the means 
of opposing a barrier to the progress of the Allies. A ridge 
of broken ground, called the Argonne, extends from the 
vicinity of Sedan towards the southwest for about fifteen or 
sixteen leagues. The country of L' Argonne has now been 
cleared and drained; but in 1792 it was thickly wooded and 
the lower portions of its unequal surface were filled with 
rivulets and marshes. It thus presented a natural barrier of 
from four to five leagues broad, which was absolutely impene- 



354 DECISIVE BATTLES [1792 

trable to an army, except by a few defiles such as an inferioi 
force might easily fortify and defend. Dumouriez succeeded 
in marching his army down from Sedan behind the Argonne, 
and in occupying its passes, while the Prussians still lingered 
on the northeastern side of the forest line. Ordering Keller- 
mann to wheel round from Metz to St. Menehould, and the 
reenforcements from the interior and extreme north also to 
concentrate at that spot, Dumouriez trusted to assemble a 
powerful force in the rear of the southwest extremity of the 
Argonne, while with the twenty-five thousand men under his 
immediate command he held the enemy at bay before the 
passes or forced him to a long circumvolution round one 
extremity of the forest ridge, during which favorable oppor- 
tunities of assailing his flank were almost certain to occur. 
Dumouriez fortified the principal defiles, and boasted of the 
Thermopylae which he had found for the invaders ; but the 
simile was nearly rendered fatally complete for the defending 
force. A pass which was thought of inferior importance 
had been but slightly manned, and an Austrian corps under 
Clairfayt forced it after some sharp fighting. Dumouriez 
with great difficulty saved himself from being enveloped and 
destroyed by the hostile columns that now pushed through 
the forest. But instead of despairing at the failure of his 
plans, and falling back into the interior, to be completely 
severed from Kellermann's army, to be hunted as a fugitive 
under the walls of Paris by the victorious Germans, and to 
lose all chance of ever rallying his dispirited troops, he re- 
solved to cling to the difficult country in which the armies 
still were grouped, to force a junction with Kellermann, and 
so to place himself at the head of a force which the invaders 
would not dare to disregard, and by which he might drag 
them back from the advance on Paris, which he had not been 
able to bar. Accordingly, by a rapid movement to the south, 
during which, in his own words, " France was within a hair- 
breadth of destruction," and after, with difficulty, checking 
several panics of his troops, in which they ran by thousands 
at the sight of a few Prussian hussars, Dumouriez succeeded 
in establishing his headquarters in a strong position at St. 
Menehould, protected by the marshes and shallows of the 
rivers Aisne and Aube, beyond which, to the northwest, rose 



1792] BATTLE OF VALMY 355 

a firm and elevated plateau, called Dampierre's Camp, admir- 
ably situated for commanding the road by Chalons to Paris, 
and where he intended to post Kellermann's army so soon as 
it came up.^ 

The news of the retreat of Dumouriez from the Argonne 
passes, and of the panic flight of some divisions of his troops, 
spread rapidly throughout the country ; and Kellermann, who 
believed that his comrade's army had been annihilated, and 
feared to fall among the victorious masses of the Prussians, 
had halted on his march from Metz when almost close to St. 
Menehould. He had actually commenced a retrograde move- 
ment, when couriers from his commander-in-chief checked 
him from that fatal course ; and then continuing to wheel 
round the rear and left flank of the troops at St. Menehould, 
Kellermann, with twenty thousand of the army of Metz and 
some thousands of volunteers who had joined him in the march, 
made his appearance to the west of Dumouriez, on the very 
evening when Westerman and Thouvenot, two of the staff- 
officers of Dumouriez, galloped in with the tidings that Bruns- 
wick's army had come through the upper passes of the Argonne 
in full force and was deploying on the heights of La Lune, 
a chain of eminences that stretch obliquely from southwest 
to northeast, opposite the high ground which Dumouriez held, 
and also opposite, but at a short distance from, the position 
which Kellermann was designed to occupy. 

The Allies were now, in fact, nearer to Paris than were the 
French troops themselves ; but, as Dumouriez had foreseen, 
Brunswick deemed it unsafe to march upon the capital with 
so large a hostile force left in his rear between his advancing 
columns and his base of operations. The young king of 
Prussia, who was in the allied camp, and the emigrant princes 
eagerly advocated an instant attack upon the nearest French 
general. Kellermann had laid himself unnecessarily open by 
advancing beyond Dampierre's Camp, which Dumouriez had 
designed for him, and moving forward across the Aube to the 
plateau of Valmy — a post inferior in strength and space to 
that which he had left, and which brought him close upon 
the Prussian lines, leaving him separated by a dangerous 
interval from the troops under Dumouriez himself. It seemed 
easy for the Prussian army to overwhelm him while thus iso- 



356 DECISIVE BATTLES [1792 

lated, and then they might surround and crush Dumouriez at 
their leisure. 

Accordingly, the right wing of the allied army moved for- 
ward, in the gray of the morning of the 20th of September, 
to gain Kellermann's left flank and rear and cut him off from 
retreat upon Chalons ; while the rest of the army, moving 
from the heights of La Lune, which here converge semicir- 
cularly round the plateau of Valmy, were to assail his position 
in front and interpose between him and Dumouriez. An 
unexpected collision between some of the advanced cavalry 
on each side in the low ground warned Kellermann of the 
enemy's approach. Dumouriez had not been unobservant of 
the danger of his comrade, thus isolated and involved, and 
he had ordered up troops to support Kellermann on either 
flank in the event of his being attacked. These troops, how- 
ever, moved forward slowly ; and Kellermann's army, ranged 
on the plateau of Valmy, " projected like a cape into the midst 
of the lines of the Prussian bayonets." A thick autumnal mist 
floated in waves of vapor over the plains and ravines that lay 
between the two armies, leaving only the crests and peaks of 
the hills glittering in the early light. About ten o'clock the 
fog began to clear off, and then the French from their prom- 
ontory saw emerging from the white wreaths of mist, and 
glittering in the sunshine, the countless Prussian cavalry which 
were to envelop them as in a net if once driven from their 
position, the solid columns of the infantry that moved forward 
as if animated by a single will, the bristling batteries of the 
artillery, and the glancing clouds of the Austrian light troops, 
fresh from their contests with the Spahis of the East. 

The best and bravest of the French must have beheld this 
spectacle with secret apprehension and awe. However bold 
and resolute a man may be in the discharge of duty, it is an 
anxious and fearful thing to be called on to encounter danger 
among comrades of whose steadiness you can feel no cer- 
tainty. Each soldier of Kellermann's army must have remem- 
bered the series of panic routs which had hitherto invariably 
taken place on the French side during the war, and must 
have cast restless glances to the right and left, to see if any 
symptoms of wavering began to show themselves, and to cal- 
culate how long it was likely to be before a general rush of 



1792] BATTLE OF VALMY 357 

his comrades to the rear would either hurry him off with in- 
voluntary disgrace, or leave him alone and helpless, to be cut 
down by assailing multitudes. 

On that very morning, and at the selfsame hour in which 
the allied forces and the emigrants began to descend from 
La Lune to the attack of Valmy, and while the cannonade 
was opening between the Prussian and the revolutionary 
batteries, the debate in the National Convention at Paris 
commenced on the proposal to proclaim France a republic. 

The old monarchy had little chance of support in the hall 
of the Convention ; but if its more effective advocates at 
Valmy had triumphed, there were yet the elements existing 
in France for a permanent revival of the better part of the 
ancient institutions, and for substituting Reform for Revolu- 
tion. Only a few weeks before, numerously signed addresses 
from the middle classes in Paris, Rouen, and other large cities 
had been presented to the king, expressive of their horror of 
the anarchists, and their readiness to uphold the rights of 
the crown together with the liberties of the subject. And 
an armed resistance to the authority of the Convention, and 
in favor of the king, was in reality at this time being actively 
organized in La Vendue and Brittany, the importance of 
which may be estimated from the formidable opposition 
which the Royalists of these provinces made to the Republi- 
can party at a later period, and under much more disadvan- 
tageous circumstances. It is a fact peculiarly illustrative of 
the importance of the battle of Valmy that " during the 
summer of 1792 the gentlemen of Brittany entered into an 
extensive association for the purpose of rescuing the country 
from the oppressive yoke which had been imposed by the 
Parisian demagogues. At the head of the whole was the 
Marquis de la Rouarie, one of those remarkable men who 
rise into preeminence during the stormy days of a revolution, 
from conscious ability to direct its current. Ardent, impetu- 
ous, and enthusiastic, he was first distinguished in the Amer- 
ican war, when the intrepidity of his conduct attracted the 
admiration of the Republican troops, and the same quality 
rendered him at first an ardent supporter of the Revolution 
in France ; but when the atrocities of the people began, he 
espoused with equal warmth the opposite side, and used the 



358 DECISIVE BATTLES [1792 

utmost efforts to raise the noblesse of Brittany against the 
plebeian yoke which had been imposed upon them by the 
National Assembly. He submitted his plan to the Count 
d'Artois, and had organized one so extensive as would have 
proved extremely formidable to the Convention if the retreat 
of the Duke of Brunswick, in September, 1792, had not 
damped the ardor of the whole of the west of France, then 
ready to break out into insurrection." [Alison.] 

And it was not only among the zealots of the old monarchy 
that the cause of the king would then have found friends. 
The ineffable atrocities of the September massacres had just 
occurred, and the reaction produced by them among thou- 
sands who had previously been active on the ultra-democratic 
side was fresh and powerful. The nobility had not yet been 
made utter aliens in the eyes of the nation by long expatria- 
tion and civil war. There was not yet a generation of youth 
educated in Revolutionary principles and knowing no worship 
save that of military glory. Louis XVI. was just and humane, 
and deeply sensible of the necessity of a gradual extension 
of political rights among all classes of his subjects. The 
Bourbon throne, if rescued in 1792, would have had chances 
of stability such as did not exist for it in 18 14 and seem 
never likely to be found again in France. 

Serving under Kellermann on that day was one who expe- 
rienced, perhaps the most deeply of all men, the changes for 
good and for evil which the French Revolution has produced. 
He who, in his second exile, bore the name of the Count de 
Neuilly in this country, and who lately was Louis Philippe, 
king of the French, figured in the French lines at Valmy as 
a young and gallant officer, cool and sagacious beyond his 
years, and trusted accordingly by Kellermann and Dumou- 
riez with an important station in the national army. The 
Due de Chartres (the title he then bore) commanded the 
French right. General Valence was on the left, and Keller- 
mann himself took his post in the center, which was the 
strength and key of his position. 

Besides these celebrated men who were in the French 
army, and besides the king of Prussia, the Duke of Bruns- 
wick, and other men of rank and power who were in the lines 
of the Allies, there was an individual present at the battle of 



1792] BATTLE OF VALMY 359 

Valmy, of little political note, but who has exercised, and 
exercises, a greater influence over the human mind, and whose 
fame is more widely spread than that of either duke or gen- 
eral or king. This was the German poet Goethe, who had, 
out of curiosity, accompanied the allied army on its march 
into France as a mere spectator. He has given us a curious 
record of the sensations which he experienced during the 
cannonade. It must be remembered that many thousands 
in the French ranks then, like Goethe, felt the "cannon fever" 
for the first time. The German poet says : — 

" I had heard so much of the cannon fever that I wanted 
to know what kind of thing it was. Ennui and a spirit 
which every kind of danger excites to daring — nay, even to 
rashness — induced me to ride up quite coolly to the outwork 
of La Lune. This was again occupied by our people ; but 
it presented the wildest aspect. The roofs were shot to 
pieces ;' the corn-shocks scattered about, the bodies of men 
mortally wounded stretched upon them here and there ; and 
occasionally a spent cannon-ball fell and rattled among the 
ruins of the tile roofs. 

" Quite alone, and left to myself, I rode away on the 
heights to the left, and could plainly survey the favorable 
position of the French ; they were standing in the form of a 
semicircle in the greatest quiet and security, Kellermann, 
then on the left wing, being the easiest to reach. 

" I fell in with good company on the way, officers of my 
acquaintance, belonging to the general staff and the regi- 
ment, greatly surprised to find me here. They wanted to 
take me back again with them ; but I spoke to them of par- 
ticular objects I had in view, and they left me without further 
dissuasion, to my well-known singular caprice. 

" I had now arrived quite in the region where the balls 
were playing across me : the sound of them is curious enough, 
as if it were composed of the humming of tops, the gurgling 
of water, and the whistling of birds. They were less danger- 
ous by reason of the wetness of the ground : wherever one 
fell, it stuck fast. And thus my foolish experimental ride 
was secured against the danger, at least, of the balls 
rebounding. 

" In the midst of these circumstances, I was soon able to 



360 DECISIVE BATTLES [1792 

remark that something unusual was taking place within me. 
I paid close attention to it, and still the sensation can be 
described only by similitude. It appeared as if you were in 
some extremely hot place, and, at the same time, quite pene- 
trated by the heat of it, so that you feel yourself, as it were, 
quite one with the element in which you are. The eyes lose 
nothing of their strength or clearness ; but it is as if the 
world had a kind of brown-red tint, which makes the situa- 
tion, as well as the surrounding objects, more impressive. 
I was unable to perceive any agitation of the blood ; but 
everything seemed rather to be swallowed up in the glow of 
which I speak. From this, then, it is clear in what sense 
this condition can be called a fever. It is remarkable, how- 
ever, that the horrible uneasy feeling arising from it is pro- 
duced in us solely through the ears ; for the cannon thunder, 
the howling and crashing of the balls through the air, is the 
real cause of these sensations. 

"After I had ridden back and was in perfect security, 
I remarked with surprise that the glow was completely 
extinguished and not the slightest feverish agitation was 
left behind. On the whole, this condition is one of the least 
desirable ; as, indeed, among my dear and noble comrades I 
found scarcely one who expressed a really passionate desire 
to try it." 

Contrary to the expectations of both friends and foes, the 
French infantry held their ground steadily under the fire of 
the Prussian guns, which thundered on them from La Lune ; 
and their own artillery replied with equal spirit and greater 
effect on the denser masses of the allied army. Thinking 
that the Prussians were slackening in their fire, Kellermann 
formed a column in charging order, and dashed down into 
the valley, in the hopes of capturing some of the nearest 
guns of the enemy. A masked battery opened its fire on 
the French column, and drove it back in disorder, Keller- 
mann having his horse shot under him and being with diffi- 
culty carried off by his men. The Prussian columns now 
advanced in turn. The French artillerymen began to waver 
and desert their posts, but were rallied by the efforts and 
example of their officers ; and Kellermann, reorganizing the 
line of his infantry, took his station in the ranks on foot, and 



1792] BATTLE OF VALMY 36 1 

called out to his men to let the enemy come close up and 
then to charge them with the bayonet. The troops caught 
the enthusiasm of their general, and a cheerful shout of 
Vive la nation ! taken by one battalion from another, pealed 
across the valley to the assailants. The Prussians flinched 
from a charge up-hill against a force that seemed so resolute 
and formidable ; they halted for a while in the hollow, and 
then slowly retreated up their own side of the valley. 

Indignant at being thus repulsed by such a foe, the king 
of Prussia formed the flower of his men in person, and, riding 
along the column, bitterly reproached them with letting their 
standard be thus humiliated. Then he led them on again to 
the attack, marching in the front line, and seeing his staff 
mowed down around him by the deadly fire which the 
French artillery reopened. But the troops sent by Dumou- 
riez were now cooperating effectually with Kellermann ; and 
that general's own men, flushed by success, presented a 
firmer front than ever. Again the Prussians retreated, leav- 
ing eight hundred dead behind, and at nightfall the French 
remained victors on the heights of Valmy. 

All hopes of crushing the revolutionary armies and of the 
promenade to Paris had now vanished, though Brunswick 
lingered long in the Argonne, till distress and sickness wasted 
away his once splendid force, and finally but a mere wreck 
of it recrossed the frontier. France, meanwhile, felt that she 
possessed a giant's strength, and like a giant did she use it. 
Before the close of that year, all Belgium obeyed the National 
Convention at Paris, and the kings of Europe, after the lapse 
of eighteen centuries, trembled once more before a conquer- 
ing military republic. 

Goethe's description of the cannonade has been quoted. 
His observation to his comrades in the camp of the Allies, at 
the end of the battle, deserves citation also. It shows that 
the poet felt (and, probably, he alone of the thousands there 
assembled felt) the full importance of that day. He describes 
the consternation and the change of demeanor which he 
observed among his Prussian friends that evening. He tells 
us that "most of them were silent; and, in fact, the power of 
reflection and judgment was wanting to all. At last I was 
called upon to say what I thought of the engagement ; for I 



362 DECISIVE BATTLES [1792 

had been in the habit of enlivening and amusing the troop 
with short sayings. This time I said: ^ From this place, and 
from this day forth, commences a new era i?i the zvorld's his- 
tory ; and you caji all say that you were present at its birth.' " 

1 Note. — Some late writers represent that Brunswick did not wish to 
check Dumouriez. There is no sufficient authority for this insinuation, 
which seems to have been first prompted by a desire to soothe the wounded 
military pride of the Prussians. 

Synopsis of Events between the Battle of Valmy, 
1792, AND THE Battle of Waterloo, 18 15 

1793. Trial and execution of Louis XVI. at Paris. Eng- 
land and Spain declare war against France. Royalist war in 
La Vendee. Second invasion of France by the Allies. 

1794. Lord Howe's victory over the French fleet. Final 
partition of Poland by Russia, Prussia, and Austria. 

1795. The French armies under Pichegru conquer Holland. 
Cessation of the war in La Vendee. 

1796. Bonaparte commands the French army of Italy and 
gains repeated victories over the Austrians. 

1797. Victory of Jervis, off Cape St. Vincent. Peace of 
Campo Formio between France and Austria. Defeat of the 
Dutch off Camperdown by Admiral Duncan. 

1798. Rebellion in Ireland. Expedition of the French 
under Bonaparte to Egypt. Lord Nelson destroys the French 
fleet at the battle of the Nile. 

1799. Renewal of the war between Austria and France. 
The Russian emperor sends an army in aid of Austria, under 
Suwarrow. The French are repeatedly defeated in Italy. 
Bonaparte returns from Egypt and makes himself First Con- 
sul of France. Massena wins the battle of Zurich. The 
Russian emperor makes peace with France. 

1800. Bonaparte passes the Alps and defeats the Austrians 
at Marengo. Moreau wins the battle of Hohenlinden. 

1 801. Treaty of Luneville between France and Austria. 
The battle of Copenhagen. 

1802. Peace of Amiens. 

1803. War between England and France renewed. 

1804. Napoleon Bonaparte is made emperor of France. 



1792] BATTLE OF VALMY 363 

1805. Great preparations of Napoleon to invade England. 
Austria, supported by Russia, renews war with France. 
Napoleon marches into Germany, takes Vienna, and gains 
the battle of Austerlitz. Lord Nelson destroys the combined 
French and Spanish fleets and is killed at the battle of 
Trafalgar. 

1806. War between Prussia and France. Napoleon con- 
quers Prussia in the battle of Jena. 

1807. Obstinate warfare between the French and Russian 
armies in East Prussia and Poland. Peace of Tilsit. 

1808. Napoleon endeavors to make his brother king of 
Spain. Rising of the Spanish nation against him. England 
sends troops to aid the Spaniards. Battles of Vimiera and 
Corunna. 

1809. War renewed between France and Austria. Battles 
of Asperne and Wagram. Peace granted to Austria. Lord 
Wellington's victory of Talavera, in Spain. 

1 8 10. Marriage of Napoleon and the Archduchess Maria 
Louisa, Holland annexed to France. 

18 12. War between England and the United States. 
Napoleon invades Russia. Battle of Borodino. The French 
occupy Moscow, which is burned. Disastrous retreat and 
almost total destruction of the great army of France. 

18 1 3. Prussia and Austria take up arms again against 
France. Battles of Liitzen, Bautzen, Dresden, Culm, and 
Leipsic. The French are driven out of Germany. Lord 
Wellington gains the great battle of Vittoria, which completes 
the rescue of Spain from France. 

1 8 14. The Allies invade France on the eastern, and Lord 
Wellington invades it on the southern, frontier. Battles of 
Laon, Montmirail, Arcis-sur-Aube, and others in the northeast 
of France, and of Toulouse in the south. Paris surrenders 
to the Allies, and Napoleon abdicates. First restoration of 
the Bourbons. Napoleon goes to the isle of Elba, which 
is assigned to him by the Allies. Treaty of Ghent between 
the United States and England. 

18 1 5. Napoleon suddenly escapes from Elba, and lands in 
France. The French soldiery join him, and Louis XVI H. 
is obliged to fly from the throne. 



364 DECISIVE BATTLES [1815 



CHAPTER XV 

The Battle of Waterloo, 18 15 
" Thou first and last of fields, king-making victory." — Byron. 

ENGLAND has now been blest with thirty-seven years of 
peace. At no other period of her history can a simi- 
larly long cessation from a state of warfare be found. 
It is true that our troops have had battles to fight during this 
interval for the protection and extension of our Indian pos- 
sessions and our colonies ; but these have been with distant 
and unimportant enemies. The danger has never been 
brought near our own shores, and no matter of vital impor- 
tance to our empire has ever been at stake. We have not 
had hostilities with either France, America, or Russia ; and 
when not at war with any of our peers, we feel ourselves to 
be substantially at peace. There has, indeed, throughout 
this long period, been no great war like those with which the 
previous history of modern Europe abounds. There have 
been formidable collisions between particular states; and 
there have been still more formidable collisions between 
the armed champions of the conflicting principles of absolu- 
tism and democracy ; but there has been no general war, like 
those of the French Revolution, like the American, or the 
Seven Years' war, or like the War of the Spanish Succession. 
It would be far too much to augur from this that no similar 
wars will again convulse the world ; but the value of the 
period of peace which Europe has gained is incalculable, even 
if we look on it as only a truce and expect again to see the 
nations of the earth recur to what some philosophers have 
termed man's natural state of warfare. 

No equal number of years can be found during which 
science, commerce, and civilization have advanced so rapidly 
and so extensively as has been the case since 18 15. When 



i8i5] BATTLE OF WATERLOO 365 

we trace their progress, especially in this country, it is impos- 
sible not to feel that their wondrous development has been 
mainly due to the land having been at peace. Their good 
effects cannot be obliterated, even if a series of wars were to 
recommence. When we reflect on this, and contrast these 
thirty-seven years with the period that preceded them, — a 
period of violence, of tumult, of unrestingly destructive energy ; 
a period throughout which the wealth of nations was scattered 
like sand and the blood of nations lavished like water, — it is 
impossible not to look with deep interest on the final crisis 
of that dark and dreadful epoch ; the crisis out of which our 
own happier cycle of years has been evolved. The great 
battle which ended the twenty-three years' war of the first 
French Revolution, and which quelled the man whose genius 
and ambition had so long disturbed and desolated the world, 
deserves to be regarded by us, not only with peculiar pride, 
as one of our greatest national victories, but with peculiar 
gratitude for the repose which it secured for us and for the 
greater part of the human race. 

One good test for determining the importance of Waterloo 
is to ascertain what was felt by wise and prudent statesmen, 
before that battle, respecting the return of Napoleon from 
Elba to the imperial throne of France, and the probable 
effects of his success. For this purpose I will quote the 
words, not of any of our vehement anti-Gallican politicians of 
the school of Pitt, but of a leader of our Liberal party — of a 
man whose reputation as a jurist, an historian, and a far- 
sighted and candid statesman was, and is, deservedly high, not 
only in this country, but throughout Europe. Sir James 
Mackintosh, in the debate in the British House of Commons, 
on the 20th of April, 18 15, spoke thus of the return from Elba : 

" Was it in the power of language to describe the evil .-* Wars 
which had raged for more than twenty years throughout 
Europe; which had spread blood and desolation from Cadiz 
to Moscow and from Naples to Copenhagen ; which had 
wasted the means of human enjoyment and destroyed the 
instruments of social improvement ; which threatened to dif- 
fuse among the European nations the dissolute and ferocious 
habits of a predatory soldiery — at length, by one of those 
vicissitudes which bid defiance to the foresight of man, had 



366 DECISIVE BATTLES [1815 

been brought to a close, upon the whole happy beyond all 
reasonable expectation, with no violent shock to national inde- 
pendence, with some tolerable compromise between the opin- 
ions of the age and reverence due to ancient institutions ; with 
no too signal or mortifying triumph over the legitimate inter- 
ests or avowable feelings of any numerous body of men ; and, 
above all, without those retaliations against nations or parties 
which beget new convulsions, often as horrible as those which 
they close, and perpetuate revenge and hatred and bloodshed 
from age to age. Europe seemed to breathe after her suffer- 
ings. In the midst of this fair prospect and of these consola- 
tory hopes. Napoleon Bonaparte escaped from Elba ; three 
small vessels reached the coast of Provence; our hopes are 
instantly dispelled ; the work of our toil and fortitude is 
undone ; the blood of Europe is spilt in vain — 

" ' Ibi omnis effusus labor! ' " 

The congress of emperors, kings, princes, generals, and 
statesmen who had assembled at Vienna to remodel the 
world after the overthrow of the mighty conqueror, and who 
thought that Napoleon had passed away forever from the 
great drama of European politics, had not yet completed their 
triumphant festivities and their diplomatic toils, when Talley- 
rand, on the nth of March, 181 5, rose up among them and 
announced that the ex-emperor had escaped from Elba, and 
was emperor of France once more. It is recorded by Sir 
Walter Scott, as a curious physiological fact, that the first 
effect of the news of an event which threatened to neutralize 
all their labors was to excite a loud burst of laughter from 
nearly every member of the congress. But the jest was a 
bitter one ; and they soon were deeply busied in anxious 
deliberations respecting the mode in which they should 
encounter their arch-enemy, who had thus started from tor- 
por and obscurity into renovated splendor and strength : — 

" Qualis ubi in lucem coluber mala gramina pastus, 
Frigida sub terra tumidum quern bruma tegebat, 
Nunc positis novus exuviis nitidusquejuventa, 
Lubrica convolvit sublato pectore terga 
Arduus ad solem, et Unguis micat ore trisulcis." 

— Vergil, ^neid. 



i8i5] BATTLE OF WATERLOO 367 

Napoleon sought to disunite the formidable confederacy 
which he knew would be arrayed against him, by endeavoring 
to negotiate separately with each of the allied sovereigns. It 
is said that Austria and Russia were at first not unwilling to 
treat with him. Disputes and jealousies had been rife among 
several of the Allies on the subject of the division of the con- 
quered countries ; and the cordial unanimity with which they 
had acted during 181 3 and the first months of 18 14 had 
grown chill during some weeks of discussions. But the active 
exertions of Talleyrand, who represented Louis XVIII. at the 
congress, and who both hated and feared Napoleon with all 
the intensity of which his powerful spirit was capable, pre- 
vented the secession of any member of the congress from the 
new great league against their ancient enemy. Still, it is 
highly probable that if Napoleon had triumphed in Belgium 
over the Prussians and the English, he would have succeeded 
in opening negotiations with the Austrians and Russians ; and 
he might have thus gained advantages similar to those which 
he had obtained on his return from Egypt, when he induced 
the Czar Paul to withdraw the Russian armies from cooperating 
with the other enemies of France in the extremity of peril to 
which she seemed reduced in 1799. But fortune now had 
deserted him, both in diplomacy and in war. 

On the 13th of March, 18 15, the ministers of the seven 
powers, Austria, Spain, England, Portugal, Prussia, Russia, 
and Sweden, signed a manifesto by which they declared 
Napoleon an outlaw ; and this denunciation was instantly fol- 
lowed up by a treaty between England, Austria, Prussia, and 
Russia (to which other powers soon acceded), by which the 
rulers of those countries bound themselves to enforce that 
decree, and to prosecute the war until Napoleon should be 
driven from the throne of France and rendered incapable of 
disturbing the peace of Europe. The Duke of Wellington 
was the representative of England at the Congress of Vienna, 
and he was immediately applied to for his advice on the plan 
of military operations against France. It was obvious that 
Belgium would be the first battle-field ; and by the general 
wish of the Allies, the English duke proceeded thither to 
assemble an army from the contingents of Dutch, Belgian, 
and Hanoverian troops that were most speedily available, 



368 DECISIVE BATTLES [1815 

and from the English regiments which his own government 
was hastening to send over from this country. A strong 
Prussian corps was near Aix-la-Chapelle, having remained 
there since the campaign of the preceding year. This was 
largely reenforced by other troops of the same nation ; and 
Marshal Bliicher, the favorite hero of the Prussian soldiery 
and the deadliest foe of France, assumed the command of this 
army, which was termed the " Army of the Lower Rhine," 
and which, in conjunction with Wellington's forces, was to 
make the van of the armaments of the allied powers. Mean- 
while Prince Schwartzenberg was to collect 130,000 Austrians, 
and 124,000 troops of other Germanic states, as the "Army 
of the Upper Rhine " ; and 168,000 Russians, under the com- 
mand of Barclay de Tolly, were to form the " Army of the 
Middle Rhine," and to repeat the march from Muscovy to 
that river's banks. 

The exertions which the allied powers thus made at this 
crisis to grapple promptly with the French emperor have 
truly been termed gigantic ; and never were Napoleon's 
genius and activity more signally displayed than in the celer- 
ity and skill by which he brought forward all the military 
resources of France, which the reverses of the three preced- 
ing years and the pacific policy of the Bourbons during the 
months of their first restoration had greatly diminished and 
disorganized. He reentered Paris on the 20th of March, 
and by the end of May, besides sending a force into La 
Vendue to put down the armed risings of the royalists in that 
province, and besides providing troops under Massena and 
Suchet for the defense of the southern frontiers of France, 
Napoleon had an army assembled in the northeast for active 
operations under his own command, which amounted to be- 
tween one hundred and twenty and one hundred and thirty 
thousand men, with a superb park of artillery and in the 
highest possible state of equipment, discipline, and efficiency. 

The approach of the multitudinous Russian, Austrian, 
Bavarian, and other foes of the French emperor to the Rhine 
was necessarily slow ; but the two most active of the allied 
powers had occupied Belgium with their troops, while Napo- 
leon was organizing his forces. Marshal Bliicher was there 
with one hundred and sixteen thousand Prussians; and, before 



i8i5] BATTLE OF WATERLOO 369 

the end of May, the Duke of Wellington was there also with 
about one hundred and six thousand troops, either British or 
in British pay.^ Napoleon determined to attack these enemies 
in Belgium. The disparity of numbers was indeed great, but 
delay was sure to increase the proportionate numerical supe- 
riority of his enemies over his own ranks. The French 
emperor considered also that " the enemy's troops were now 
cantoned under the command of two generals, and composed 
of nations differing both in interest and in feelings." His 
own army was under his own s61e command. It was com- 
posed exclusively of French soldiers, mostly of veterans, well 
acquainted with their officers and with each other, and full 
of enthusiastic confidence in their commander. If he could 
separate the Prussians from the British, so as to attack each 
singly, he felt sanguine of success, not only against these the 
most resolute of his many adversaries, but also against the 
other masses that were slowly laboring up against his eastern 
dominions. 

The triple chain of strong fortresses which the French pos- 
sessed on the Belgian frontier formed a curtain behind which 
Napoleon was able to concentrate his army, and to conceal, 
till the very last moment, the precise line of attack which he 
intended to take. On the other hand Blucher and Welling- 
ton were obliged to canton their troops along a line of open 
country of considerable length, so as to watch for the out- 
break of Napoleon from whichever point of his chain of strong- 
holds he should please to make it. Blucher, with his army, 
occupied the banks of the Sambre and the Meuse, from Liege 
on his left, to Charleroi on his right ; and the Duke of Well- 
ington covered Brussels, his cantonments being partly in front 
of that city and between it and the French frontier, and partly 
on its west ; their extreme right reaching to Courtray and 
Tournay, while the left approached Charleroi and communi- 
cated with the Prussian right. It was upon Charleroi that 
Napoleon resolved to level his attack, in hopes of severing 
the two allied armies from each other and then pursuing his 
favorite tactics of assailing each separately with a superior 
force on the battle-field, though the aggregate of their num- 
bers considerably exceeded his own. 

The first French corps d'arm^e, commanded by Count 



370 DECISIVE BATTLES [1815 

d'Erlon, was stationed, in the beginning of June, in and 
around the city of Lille, near to the northeastern frontier of 
France. The second corps, under Count Reille, was at Va- 
lenciennes, to the right of the first one. The third corps, 
under Count Vandamme, was at Mezi^res. The fourth, 
under Court Gerard, had its headquarters at Metz ; and the 
sixth,^ under Count Lobau, was at Laon. Four corps of re- 
serve cavalry, under Marshal Grouchy, were also near the 
frontier, between the rivers Aisne and Sambre. The Impe- 
rial Guard remained in Paris until the 8th of June, when it 
marched towards Belgium, and reached Avesnes on the 13th ; 
and in the course of the same and the following day, the five 
corps d'arm^e, with the cavalry reserves which have been men- 
tioned, were, in pursuance of skilfully combined orders, rap- 
idly drawn together and concentrated in and around the same 
place, on the right bank of the river Sambre. On the 14th 
Napoleon arrived among his troops, who were exulting at the 
display of their commander's skill in the celerity and precision 
with which they had been drawn together and in the conscious- 
ness of their collective strength. Although Napoleon too often 
permitted himself to use language unworthy of his own char- 
acter respecting his great English adversary, his real feelings 
in commencing this campaign may be judged from the last 
words which he spoke, as he threw himself into his traveling- 
carriage to leave Paris for the army. " I go," he said, " to 
measure myself with Wellington." 

The enthusiasm of the French soldiers at seeing their em- 
peror among them was still more excited by the " Order of 
the Day," in which he thus appealed to them : — 

" Napoleon, by the Grace of God, and the Constitution of the Empire, 
Emperor of the French, etc., to the Grand Army. 

"At the Imperial Headquarters, 
'■'■ Avesnes, June i^h, 181 5. 
" Soldiers ! this day is the anniversary of Marengo and of Friedland, which 
twice decided the destiny of Europe. Then, as after Austerlitz, as after 
Wagram, we were too generous! We believed in the protestations and in 
the oaths of princes, whom we left on their thrones. Now, however, leagued 
together, they aim at the independence and the most sacred rights of France. 
They have commenced the most unjust of aggressions. Let us, then, march 
to meet them. Are they and we no longer the same men? 



i8i5] BATTLE OF WATERLOO 371 

"Soldiers! at Jena, against these same Prussians, now so arrogant, you 
were one to three, and at Montmirail one to six! 

" Let those among you who have been captives to the English describe 
the nature of their prison ships, and the frightful miseries they endured. 

" The Saxons, the Belgians, the Hanoverians, the soldiers of the Con- 
federation of the Rhine, lament that they are compelled to use their arms 
in the cause of princes, the enemies of justice and of the rights of all nations. 
They know that this coalition is insatiable ! After having devoured twelve 
millions of Poles, twelve millions of Italians, one million of Saxons, and six 
millions of Belgians, it now wishes to devour the states of the second rank 
in Germany. 

" Madmen ! one moment of prosperity has bewildered them. The oppres- 
sion and the humiliation of the French people are beyond their power. If 
they enter France, they will there find their grave. 

"Soldiers! we have forced marches to make, battles to fight, dangers to 
encounter ; but, with firmness, victory will be ours. The rights, the honor, 
and the happiness of the country will be recovered ! 

" To every Frenchman who has a heart, the moment is now arrived to 
conquer or to die. 

" Napoleon. 

"The Marshal Duke of Dalmatia, 
" Major-general." 

The 15th of June had scarcely dawned before the French 
army was in motion for the decisive campaign and crossed 
the frontier in three columns, which were pointed upon Charle- 
roi and its vicinity. The French line of advance upon Brus- 
sels, which city Napoleon resolved to occupy, thus lay right 
through the center of the cantonments of the Allies. 

Much criticism has been expended on the supposed surprise 
of Wellington's army in its cantonments by Napoleon's rapid 
advance. These comments would hardly have been made if 
sufficient attention had been paid to the geography of the 
Waterloo campaign ; and if it had been remembered that the 
protection of Brussels was justly considered by the allied gen- 
erals a matter of primary importance. If Napoleon could, 
either by maneuvering or fighting, have succeeded in occupy- 
ing that city, the greater part of Belgium would unquestion- 
ably have declared in his favor; and the results of such 
a success, gained by the emperor at the commencement of the 
campaign, might have decisively influenced the whole after 
current of events. A glance at the map will show the numer- 
ous roads that lead from the different fortresses on the French 
northeastern frontier and converge upon Brussels, any one 



372 DECISIVE BATTLES [1815 

of which Napoleon might have chosen for the advance of a 
strong force upon that city. The duke's army was judiciously 
arranged so as to enable him to concentrate troops on any 
one of these roads sufficiently in advance of Brussels to check 
an assailing enemy. The army was kept thus available for 
movement in any necessary direction, till certain intelligence 
arrived on the 15th of June that the French had crossed the 
frontier in large force near Thuin, that they had driven back 
the Prussian advanced troops under General Ziethen, and were 
also moving across the Sambre upon Charleroi. 

Marshal Bliicher now rapidly concentrated his forces, call- 
ing them in froni the left upon Ligny, which is to the north- 
east of Charleroi. Wellington also drew his troops together, 
calling them in from the right. But even now, though it was 
certain that the French were in large force at Charleroi, it 
was unsafe for the English general to place his army directly 
between that place and Brussels, until it was certain that no 
corps of the enemy was marching upon Brussels by the west- 
ern road through Mons and Hal. The duke, therefore, col- 
lected his troops in Brussels and its immediate vicinity, ready 
to move due southward on Quatre Bras and cooperate with 
Bliicher, who was taking his station at Ligny, but also ready 
to meet and defeat any maneuver that the enemy might make 
to turn the right of the Allies and occupy Brussels by a flank- 
ing movement. The testimony of the Prussian general. 
Baron Miiffling, who was attached to the duke's staff during 
the campaign and who expressly states the reasons on which 
the English general acted, ought forever to have silenced the 
" weak inventions of the enemy " about the Duke of Welling- 
ton having been deceived and surprised by his assailant, which 
some writers of our own nation, as well as foreigners, have 
incautiously repeated. 

It was about three o'clock in the afternoon of the 15th that 
a Prussian officer reached Brussels, whom General Ziethen 
had sent to Muffling to inform him of the advance of the main 
French army upon Charleroi. Muffling immediately com- 
municated this to the Duke of Wellington, and asked him 
whether he would now concentrate his army, and what would 
be his point of concentration, observing that Marshal Bliicher 
in consequence of this intelligence would certainly concentrate 



i8i5] BATTLE OF WATERLOO 373 

the Prussians at Ligny. The duke replied : " If all is as Gen- 
eral Ziethen supposes, I will concentrate on my left wing, 
and so be in readiness to fight in conjunction with the Prus- 
sian army. Should, however, a portion of the enemy's force 
come by Mons, I must concentrate more towards my center. 
This is the reason why I must wait for positive news from 
Mons before I fix the rendezvous. Since, however, it is cer- 
tain that the troops ^mist march, though it is uncertain upon 
what precise spot they must march, I will order all to be in 
readiness and will direct a brigade to move at once towards 
Quatre Bras." 

Later in the same day a message from Blucher himself 
was delived to Miiffling, in which the Prussian field-marshal 
informed the baron that he was concentrating his men at 
Sombref and Ligny, and charged Miiffling to give him 
speedy intelligence respecting the concentration of Welling- 
ton. Muffling immediately communicated this to the duke, 
who expressed his satisfaction with Bliicher's arrangements, 
but added that he could not even then resolve upon his own 
point of concentration before he obtained the desired intelli- 
gence from Mons. About midnight this information arrived. 
The duke went to the quarters of General Miiffling and told 
him that he now had received his reports from Mons and was 
sure that no French troops were advancing by that route, but 
that the mass of the enemy's force was decidedly directed on 
Charleroi. He informed the Prussian general that he had 
ordered the British troops to move forward upon Quatre Bras ; 
but with characteristic coolness and sagacity resolved not to 
give the appearance of alarm by hurrying on with them him- 
self. A ball was to be given by the Duchess of Richmond at 
Brussels that night, and the duke proposed to General Miif- 
fling that they should go to the ball for a few hours, and ride 
forward in the morning to overtake the troops at Quatre Bras. 

To hundreds who were assembled at that memorable ball the 
news that the enemy was advancing, and that the time for 
battle had come, must have been a fearfully exciting surprise, 
and the magnificent stanzas of Byron [" Childe Harold," 
Canto HL] are as true as they are beautiful; but the duke 
and his principal officers knew well the stern termination to 
that festive scene, which was approaching. One by one, and 



374 DECISIVE BATTLES [1815 

in such a way as to attract as little observation as possible, 
the leaders of the various corps left the ballroom and took 
their stations at the head of their men, who were pressing 
forward through the last hours of the short summer night to 
the arena of anticipated slaughter. 

Napoleon's operations on the 15th had been conducted 
with signal skill and vigor ; and their results had been very- 
advantageous for his plan of the campaign. With his army 
formed in three vast columns, he had struck at the center of 
the line of cantonments of his allied foes ; and he had so far 
made good his blow that he had effected the passage of the 
Sambre, he had beaten with his left wing the Prussian corps 
of General Ziethen at Thuin, and with his center he had in 
person advanced right through Charleroi upon Fleurus, inflict- 
ing considerable loss upon the Prussians that fell back before 
him. His right column had with little opposition moved for- 
ward as far as the bridge of Chatelet. 

Napoleon had thus a powerful force immediately in front 
of the point which Bliicher had fixed for the concentration of 
the Prussian army, and that concentration was still incom- 
plete. The French emperor designed to attack the Prussians 
on the morrow in person with the troops of his center and 
right columns, and to employ his left wing in beating back 
such English troops as might advance to the help of their 
allies, and also in aiding his own attack upon Bliicher. He 
gave the command of his left wing to Marshal Ney. Napo- 
leon seems not to have originally intended to employ this 
celebrated general in the campaign. It was only on the 
night of the nth of June that Marshal Ney received at Paris 
an order to join the army. Hurrying forward to the Belgian 
frontier, he met the emperor near Charleroi. Napoleon 
immediately directed him to take the command of the left 
wing and to press forward with it upon Quatre Bras by the 
line of the road which leads from Charleroi to Brussels, 
through Gosselies, Frasne, Quatre Bras, Genappe, and Water- 
loo. Ney immediately proceeded to the post assigned him ; 
and before ten on the night of the 15th he had occupied Gos- 
selies and Frasne, driving out without much difficulty some 
weak Belgian detachments which had been stationed in those 
villages. The lateness of the hour and the exhausted state of 



i8i5] BATTLE OF WATERLOO 375 

the French troops, who had been marching and fighting since 
ten in the morning, made him pause from advancing farther 
to attack the much more important position of Ouatre Bras. 
In truth, the advantages which the French gained by their 
almost superhuman energy and activity throughout the long 
day of the 15th of June were necessarily bought at the price 
of more delay and inertness during the following night and 
morrow than would have been observable if they had not 
been thus overtasked. Ney has been blamed for want of 
promptness in his attack upon Quatre Bras, and Napoleon 
has been criticized for not having fought at Ligny before the 
afternoon of the i6th; but their censors should remember 
that soldiers are but men and that there must be necessarily 
some interval of time before troops that have been worn and 
weakened by twenty hours of incessant fatigue and strife can 
be fed, rested, reorganized, and brought again into action with 
any hope of success. 

Having on the night of the 15th placed the most advanced 
of the French under his command in position in front of 
Frasne, Ney rode back to Charleroi, where Napoleon also 
arrived about midnight, having returned from directing the 
operations of the center and right column of the French. 
The emperor and the marshal supped together, and remained 
in earnest conversation till two in the morning. An hour or 
two afterwards Ney rode back to Frasne, where he endeav- 
ored to collect tidings of the numbers and movements of the 
enemy in front of him ; and also busied himself in the neces- 
sary duty of learning the amount and composition of the 
troops which he himself was commanding. He had been 
so suddenly appointed to his high station that he did not 
know the strength of the several regiments under him, or 
even the names of their commanding officers. He now caused 
his aides-de-camp to prepare the requisite returns, and drew 
together the troops, whom he was thus learning before he 
used them. 

Wellington remained at the Duchess of Richmond's ball at 
Brussels till about three o'clock in the morning of the i6th, 
"showing himself very cheerful," as Baron Muffling, who ac- 
companied him, observes. At five o'clock the duke and the 
baron were on horseback and reached the position at Quatre 



376 DECISIVE BATTLES [1815 

Bras about eleven. As the French, who were in front of 
Frasne, were perfectly quiet, and the duke was informed that 
a very large force under Napoleon in person was menacing 
Bliicher, it was thought possible that only a slight detach- 
ment of the French was posted at Frasne in order to mask 
the English army. In that event Wellington, as he told 
Baron Muffling, would be able to employ his whole strength 
in supporting the Prussians ; and he proposed to ride across 
from Quatre Bras to Blucher's position, in order to concert 
with him personally the measures which should be taken in 
order to bring on a decisive battle with the French. Welling- 
ton and Muffling rode accordingly towards Ligny, and found 
Marshal Bliicher and his staff at the windmill of Bry, near 
that village. The Prussian army, 80,000 strong, was drawn 
up chiefly along a chain of heights, with the villages of Som- 
bref, St. Amand, and Ligny in their front. These villages 
were strongly occupied by Prussian detachments, and formed 
the keys of Blucher's position. The heads of the columns 
which Napoleon was forming for the attack were visible in 
the distance. The duke asked Bliicher and General Gneise- 
nau (who was Blucher's adviser in matters of strategy) 
what they wished him to do. Miiffling had already explained 
to them in a few words the duke's earnest desire to support 
the field-marshal, and that he would do all that they wished, 
provided they did not ask him to divide his army, which was 
contrary to his principles. The duke wished to advance with 
his army (as soon as it was concentrated) upon Frasne and 
Gosselies, and thence to move upon Napoleon's flank and 
rear. The Prussian leaders preferred that he should march 
his men from Quatre Bras by the Namur road, so as to form 
a reserve in rear of Bliicher's army. The duke replied, 
"Well, I will come if I am not attacked myself," and galloped 
back with Muffling to Quatre Bras, where the French attack 
was now actually raging. 

Marshal Ney began the battle about two o'clock in the 
afternoon. He had at this time in hand about 16,000 infan- 
try, nearly 2000 cavalry, and 38 guns. The force which 
Napoleon nominally placed at his command exceeded 40,000 
men. But more than one half of these consisted of the first 
French corps d'armee, under Count d'Erlon; and Ney was 



i8i5] BATTLE OF WATERLOO 377 

deprived of the use of this corps at the time that he most 
required it, in consequence of its receiving orders to march 
to the aid of the emperor at Ligny. A magnificent body of 
heavy cavalry under Kellermann, nearly 50CX) strong, and 
several more battalions of artillery were added to Ney's army 
during the battle of Quatre Bras ; but his effective infantry 
force never exceeded 16,000. 

When the battle began, the greater part of the duke's army 
was yet on its march towards Quatre Bras from Brussels and 
the other parts of its cantonments. The force of the Allies, 
actually in position there, consisted only of a Dutch and 
Belgian division of infantry, not quite 7000 strong, with one 
battalion of foot, and one of horse-artillery. The Prince of 
Orange commanded them. A wood, called the Bois de 
Bossu, stretched along the right (or western) flank of the 
position of Quatre Bras ; a farmhouse and building, called 
Gemiancourt, stood on some elevated ground in its front ; 
and to the left (or east) were the enclosures of the village of 
Pierremont. The Prince of Orange endeavored to secure 
these posts ; but Ney carried Gemiancourt in the center, and 
Pierremont on the east, and gained occupation of the southern 
part of the wood of Bossu. He ranged the chief part of his 
artillery on the high ground of Gemiancourt, whence it played 
throughout the action with most destructive effect upon the 
Allies. He was pressing forward to further advantages, 
when the fifth infantry division, under Sir Thomas Picton, 
and the Duke of Brunswick's corps, appeared upon the scene. 
Wellington (who had returned to Quatre Bras from his inter- 
view with Blucher shortly before the arrival of these forces) 
restored the fight with them ; and as fresh troops of the Allies 
arrived, they were brought forward to stem the fierce attacks 
which Ney's columns and squadrons continued to make with 
unabated gallantry and zeal. The only cavalry of the Anglo- 
allied army that reached Quatre Bras during the action 
consisted of Dutch and Belgians, and a small force of Bruns- 
wickers under their duke, who was killed on the field. These 
proved wholly unable to encounter Kellermann's cuirassiers 
and Pire's lancers. The Dutch and Belgian infantry also gave 
way early in the engagement ; so that the whole brunt of the 
battle fell on the British and German infantry. They sus- 



378 DECISIVE BATTLES [1815 

tained it nobly. Though repeatedly charged by the French 
cavalry, though exposed to the murderous fire of the French 
batteries, which from the heights of Gemiancourt sent shot 
and shell into the devoted squares whenever the French 
horsemen withdrew, they not only repelled their assailants, 
but Kempt's and Pack's brigades, led on by Picton, actually 
advanced against and through their charging foes, and with 
stern determination made good to the end of the day the 
ground which they had thus boldly won. Some, however, 
of the British regiments were during the confusion assailed 
by the French cavalry before they could form squares, and 
suffered severely. One regiment, the 92d, was almost wholly 
destroyed by the cuirassiers. A French private soldier 
named Lami, of the 8th Regiment of cuirassiers, captured 
one of the English colors and presented it to Ney. It was a 
solitary trophy. The arrival of the English Guards about 
half-past six o'clock enabled the duke to recover the wood of 
Bossu, which the French had almost entirely won and the pos- 
session of which by them would have enabled Ney to operate 
destructively upon the allied flank and rear. Not only was 
the wood of Bossu recovered on the British right, but the en- 
closures of Pierremont were also carried on the left. When 
night set in the French had been driven back on all points 
towards Frasne ; but they still held the farm of Gemiancourt 
in front of the duke's center. Wellington and Muffling were 
unacquainted with the result of the collateral battle between 
Blucher and Napoleon, the cannonading of which had been 
distinctly audible at Quatre Bras throughout the afternoon 
and evening. The duke observed to Muffling that of course 
the two allied armies would assume the offensive against the 
enemy on the morrow, and, consequently, it would be better 
to capture the farm at once, instead of waiting till next morn- 
ing. Muffling agreed in the duke's views, and Gemiancourt 
was forthwith attacked by the English and captured with 
little loss to the assailants. 

Meanwhile the French and the Prussians had been fighting 
in and round the villages of Ligny, Sombref, and St. Amand, 
from three in the afternoon to nine in the evening, with a 
savage inveteracy almost unparalleled in modern warfare. 
Blucher had in the field, when he began the battle, 83,417 



i8i5] BATTLE OF WATERLOO 379 

men and 224 guns. Bulow's corps, which was 25,000 strong, 
had not joined him. But the field-marshal hoped to be reen- 
forded by it or by the English army before the end of the 
action. But Bulow, through some error in the transmission of 
orders, was far in the rear ; and the Duke of Wellington was 
engaged, as we have seen, with Marshal Ney. Blucher re- 
ceived early warning from Baron Muffling that the duke 
could not come to his assistance ; but, as MiifRing observes, 
Wellington rendered the Prussians the great service of occu- 
pying more than 40,000 of the enemy, who otherwise would 
have crushed Bliicher's right flank. For not only did the 
conflict at Quatre Bras detain the French troops which 
actually took part in it, but d'Erlon received orders from Ney 
to join him, which hindered d'Erlon from giving effectual aid 
to Napoleon. Indeed, the whole of d'Erlon's corps, in conse- 
quence of conflicting directions from Ney and the emperor, 
marched and countermarched, during the i6th, between 
Quatre Bras and Ligny without firing a shot in either battle. 

Blucher had, in fact, a superiority of more than 12,000 in 
number over the French army that attacked him at Ligny. 
The numerical difference was even greater at the beginning 
of the battle, as Lobau's corps did not come up from Charleroi 
till eight o'clock. After five hours and a half of desperate 
and long-doubtful struggle. Napoleon succeeded in breaking 
the center of the Prussian line at Ligny, and in forcing his 
obstinate antagonists off the field of battle. The issue was 
attributable to his skill, and not to any want of spirit or reso- 
lution on the part of the Prussian troops ; nor did they, though 
defeated, abate one jot in discipline, heart, or hope. As 
Blucher observed, it was a battle in which his army lost the 
day but not its honor. The Prussians retreated during the 
night of the i6th and the early part of the 17th, with perfect 
regularity and steadiness. The retreat was directed not 
towards Maestricht, where their principal depots were estab- 
lished, but towards Wavre, so as to be able to maintain their 
communication with Wellington's army, and still follow out 
the original plan of the campaign. The heroism with which 
the Prussians endured and repaired their defeat at Ligny is 
more glorious than many victories. 

The messenger who was sent to inform Wellington of the 



38o DECISIVE BATTLES [1815 

retreat of the Prussian army was shot on the way ; and it was 
not until the morning of the 17th that the AlHes, at Quatre 
Bras, knew the result of the battle of Ligny. The duke was 
ready at daybreak to take the offensive against the enemy 
with vigor, his whole army being by that time fully assembled. 
But on learning that Bliicher had been defeated, a different 
course of action was clearly necessary. It was obvious that 
Napoleon's main army would now be directed against Well- 
ington, and a retreat was inevitable. On ascertaining that 
the Prussian army had retired upon Wavre, that there was no 
hot pursuit of them by the French, and that Bulow's corps 
had taken no part in the action at Ligny, the duke resolved 
to march his army back towards Brussels, still intending to 
cover that city and to halt at a point in a line with Wavre, 
and there restore his communication with Blucher. An offi- 
cer from Blijcher's army reached the duke about nine o'clock, 
from whom he learned the effective strength that Blucher 
still possessed, and how little discouraged his ally was by 
yesterday's battle. Wellington sent word to the Prussian 
commander that he would halt in the position of Mont St. 
Jean, and accept a general battle with the French, if Blucher 
would pledge himself to come to his assistance with a single 
corps of 25,000 men. This was readily promised; and after 
allowing his men ample time for rest and refreshment, Welling- 
ton retired over about half the space between Quatre Bras and 
Brussels. He was pursued, but little molested, by the main 
French army, which about noon of the 17th moved laterally 
from Ligny and joined Ney's forces, which had advanced 
through Quatre Bras when the British abandoned that posi- 
tion. The Earl of Uxbridge, with the British cavalry, covered 
the retreat of the duke's army with great skill and gallantry ; 
and a heavy thunder-storm, with torrents of rain, impeded the 
operations of the French pursuing squadrons. The duke 
still expected that the French would endeavor to turn his 
right and march upon Brussels by the highroad that leads 
through Mons and Hal. In order to counteract this antici- 
pated maneuver, he stationed a force of 18,000 men, under 
Prince Frederick of the Netherlands, at Hal, with orders to 
maintain himself there, if attacked, as long as possible. The 
duke halted with the rest of his army at the position near 



i8i5] BATTLE OF WATERLOO 38 1 

Mont St. Jean which, from a village in its neighborhood, has 
received the ever-memorable name of the field of Waterloo. 

Wellington was now about twelve miles distant, on a line run- 
ning from west to east, from Wavre, where the Prussian army 
had now been completely reorganized and collected, and where 
it had been strengthened by the junction of Bulow's troops, 
which had taken no part in the battle of Ligny. Bllicher sent 
word from Wavre to the duke that he was coming to help the 
English at Mont St. Jean, in the morning, not with one corps, 
but with his whole army. The fiery old man only stipulated 
that the combined armies, if not attacked by Napoleon on the 
1 8th, should themselves attack him on the 19th, So far were 
Bllicher and his army from being in the state of annihilation 
described in the boastful bulletin by which Napoleon informed 
the Parisians of his victory at Ligny. Indeed, the French em- 
peror seems himself to have been misinformed as to the extent 
of loss which he had inflicted on the Prussians. Had he known 
in what good order and with what undiminished spirit they 
were retiring, he would scarcely have delayed sending a large 
force to press them in their retreat until noon on the 17th. 
Such, however, was the case. It was about that time that he 
confided to Marshal Grouchy the duty of pursuing the defeated 
Prussians and preventing them from joining Wellington. He 
placed for this purpose 32,000 men and 96 guns under his 
orders. Violent complaints and recriminations passed after- 
wards between the emperor and the marshal respecting the 
manner in which Grouchy attempted to perform this duty, and 
the reasons why he failed on the i8th to arrest the lateral 
movement of the Prussians from Wavre to Waterloo. It is 
sufficient to remark here, that the force which Napoleon gave 
to Grouchy (though the utmost that the emperor's limited 
means would allow) was insufficient to make head against the 
entire Prussian army, especially after Bulow's junction with 
Bllicher. We shall presently have occasion to consider what 
opportunities were given to Grouchy during the i8th, and 
what he might have effected if he had been a man of original 
military genius. 

But the failure of Grouchy was in truth mainly owing to the 
indomitable heroism of Bllicher himself ; who, though he had 
received severe personal injuries in the battle of Ligny, was 



382 DECISIVE BATTLES [1815 

as energetic and ready as ever in bringing his men into action 
again, and who had the resolution to expose a part of his army, 
under Thielman, to be overwhelmed by Grouchy at Wavre on 
the 1 8th, while he urged the march of the mass of his troops 
upon Waterloo. " It is not at Wavre, but at Waterloo," said 
the old field-marshal, " that the campaign is to be decided " ; 
and he risked a detachment, and won the campaign accord- 
ingly. Wellington and Bliicher trusted each other as cordially, 
and cooperated as zealously, as formerly had been the case 
with Marlborough and Eugene. It was in full reliance on 
Blucher's promise to join him that the duke stood his ground 
and fought at Waterloo ; and those who have ventured to 
impugn the duke's capacity as a general ought to have had 
common sense enough to perceive that to charge the duke 
with having won the battle of Waterloo by the help of the 
Prussians is really to say that he won it by the very means 
on which he relied, and without the expectation of which the 
battle would not have been fought. 

Napoleon himself has found fault with Wellington for not 
having retreated farther, so as to complete a junction of his 
army with Blucher's before he risked a general engagement. 
But, as we have seen, the duke justly considered it important 
to protect Brussels. He had reason to expect that his army 
could singly resist the French at Waterloo until the Prussians 
came up, and that, on the Prussians joining, there would be 
a sufficient force united under himself and Bliicher for com- 
pletely overwhelming the enemy. And while Napoleon thus 
censures his great adversary, he involuntarily bears the high- 
est possible testimony to the military character of the Eng- 
lish, and proves decisively of what paramount importance 
was the battle to which he challenged his fearless opponent. 
Napoleon asks, " If the English army had been beaten at 
Waterloo, what wonld have been the use of those numerous 
bodies of troops, of Prussians, Austrians, Germans, and Span- 
iards, which were advancing by forced marches to the Rhine, 
the Alps, and the Pyrenees ? " 

The strength of the army under the Duke of Wellington 
at Waterloo was 49,608 infantry, 12,402 cavalry, and 5645 
artillerymen with 156 guns. But of this total of 67,655 men, 
scarcely 24,000 were British, a circumstance of very serious 



l8is] BATTLE OF WATERLOO 383 

importance, if Napoleon's own estimate of the relative value 
of troops of different nations is to be taken. In the emperor's 
own words, speaking of this campaign, " A French soldier 
would not be equal to more than one English soldier, but he 
would not be afraid to meet two Dutchmen, Prussians, or 
soldiers of the Confederation." There were about 6000 men 
of the old German Legion with the duke ; these were veteran 
troops and of excellent quality. Of the rest of the army the 
Hanoverians and Brunswickers proved themselves deserving 
of confidence and praise. But the Nassauers, Dutch, and 
Belgians were almost worthless ; and not a few of them were 
justly suspected of a strong wish to fight, if they fought at 
all, under the French eagles rather than against them. 

Napoleon's army at Waterloo consisted of 48,950 infantry, 
15,765 cavalry, 7232 artillerymen, being a total of 71,947 men 
and 246 guns. They were the flower of the national forces of 
France ; and of all the numerous gallant armies which that 
martial land has poured forth, never was there one braver, 
or better disciplined, or better led than the host that took up 
its position at Waterloo on the morning of the i8th of June, 
1815. 

Perhaps those who have not seen the field of battle at 
Waterloo, or the admirable model of the ground and of the 
conflicting armies which was executed by Captain Siborne, 
may gain a generally accurate idea of the localities by pictur- 
ing to themselves a valley between two and three miles long, 
of various breadths at different points, but generally not 
exceeding half a mile. On each side of the valley there is 
a winding chain of low hills running somewhat parallel with 
each other. The declivity from each of these ranges of hills 
to the intervening valley is gentle but not uniform, the un- 
dulations of the ground being frequent and considerable. 
The English army was posted on the northern and the French 
army occupied the southern ridge. The artillery of each side 
thundered at the other from their respective heights through- 
out the day, and the charges of horse and foot were made 
across the valley that has been described. The village of 
Mont St. Jean is situated a little behind the center of the 
northern chain of hills, and the village of La Belle Alliance 
is close behind the center of the southern ridge. The high- 



384 . DECISIVE BATTLES [1815 

road from Charleroi to Brussels (a broad paved causeway) 
runs through both these villages and bisects therefore both 
the English and the French position. The line of this road 
was the line of Napoleon's intended advance on Brussels. 

There are some other local particulars connected with the 
situation of each army which it is necessary to bear in mind. 
The strength of the British position did not consist merely in 
the occupation of a ridge of high ground. A village and 
ravine, called Merk Braine, on the Duke of Wellington's 
extreme right, secured his flank from being turned on that 
side; and on his extreme left two little hamlets, called La 
Haye and Papelotte, gave a similar, though a slighter, pro- 
tection. Behind the whole British position is the extensive 
forest of Soignies. As no attempt was made by the French 
to turn either of the English flanks, and the battle was a day 
of straightforward fighting, it is chiefly important to ascertain 
what posts there were in front of the British line of hills of 
which advantage could be taken either to repel or facilitate 
an attack ; and it will be seen that there were two, and that 
each was of very great importance in the action. In front 
of the British right — that is to say, on the northern slope of 
the valley towards its western end — there stood an old-fash- 
ioned Flemish farmhouse called Goumont, or Hougoumont, 
with outbuildings and a garden, and with a copse of beech- 
trees of about two acres in extent round it. This was strongly 
garrisoned by the allied troops ; and, while it was in their 
possession, it was difficult for the enemy to press on and force 
the British right wing. On the other hand, if the enemy 
could take it, it would be difficult for that wing to keep its 
ground on the heights, with a strong post held adversely in 
its immediate front, being one that would give much shelter 
to the enemy's marksmen and great facilities for the sudden 
concentration of attacking columns. Almost immediately in 
front of the British center, and not so far down the slope as 
Hougoumont, there was another farmhouse of a smaller size, 
called La Haye Sainte,^ which was also hel,d by the British 
troops, and the occupation of which was found to be of very 
serious consequence. 

With respect to the French position, the principal feature 
to be noticed is the village of Planchenoit, which lay a little 



i8i5] BATTLE OF WATERLOO S^S 

in the rear of their right {i.e. on the eastern side), and which 
proved to be of great importance in aiding them to check the 
advance of the Prussians. 

Napoleon, in his memoirs, and other French writers, have 
vehemently blamed the duke for having given battle in such 
a position as that of Waterloo. They particularly object that 
the duke fought without having the means of a retreat, if the 
attacks of his enemy had proved successful ; and that the 
English army, if once broken, must have lost all its guns and 
materiel in its flight through the forest of Soignies, that lay 
in its rear. In answer to these censures, instead of merely 
referring to the event of the battle as proof of the correctness 
of the duke's judgment, it is to be observed that many mili- 
tary critics of high authority have considered the position of 
Waterloo to have been admirably adapted for the duke's 
purpose of protecting Brussels by a battle ; and that certainly 
the duke's opinion in favor of it was not lightly or hastily 
formed. It is a remarkable fact (mentioned in the speech of 
Lord Bathurst when moving the vote of thanks to the duke 
in the House of Lords) that, when the Duke of Wellington 
was passing through Belgium in "the preceding summer of 
1 8 14, he particularly noticed the strength of the position 
of Waterloo, and made a minute of it at the time, stating 
to those who were with him that if it ever should be his fate to 
fight a battle in that quarter for the protection of Brussels, he 
should endeavor to do so in that position. And with respect 
to the forest of Soignies, which the French (and some few 
English) critics have thought calculated to prove so fatal to a 
retreating force, the duke, on the contrary, believed it to be a 
post that might have proved of infinite value to his army in 
the event of his having been obliged to give way. The forest 
of Soignies has no thicket or masses of close-growing trees. 
It consists of tall beeches, and is everywhere passable for men 
and horses. The artillery could have been withdrawn by the 
broad road which traverses it towards Brussels ; and in the 
mean while a few regiments of resolute infantry could have 
held the forest and kept the pursuers in check. One of the 
best writers on the Waterloo campaign. Captain Pringle, well 
observes that " every person the least experienced in war 
knows the extreme difficulty of forcing infantry from a wood 



386 DECISIVE BATTLES [1815 

which cannot be turned." The defense of the Bois de Bossu 
near Quatre Bras on the i6th of June had given a good proof 
of this ; and the Duke of Wellington, when speaking in after- 
years of the possible events that might have followed if he 
had been beaten back from the open field of Waterloo, pointed 
to the wood of Soignies as his secure rallying place, saying, 
" They never could have beaten us so that we could not have 
held the wood against them." He was always confident that 
he could have made good that post until joined by the Prus- 
sians, upon whose cooperation he throughout depended. 

As has been already mentioned, the Prussians on the morn- 
ing of the 1 8th were at Wavre, which is about twelve miles to 
the east of the field of battle of Waterloo. The junction of 
Bulow's division had more than made up for the loss sustained 
at Ligny ; and leaving Thielman, with about seventeen thou- 
sand men, to hold his ground as he best could against the 
attack which Grouchy was about to make on Wavre, Bulow 
and Bliicher moved with the rest of the Prussians through St. 
Lambert upon Waterloo. It was calculated that they would 
be there by three o'clock ; but the extremely difficult nature 
of the ground which they had to traverse, rendered worse by 
the torrents of rain that had just fallen, delayed them long on 
their twelve miles' march. 

An army, indeed, less animated by bitter hate against the 
enemy than were the Prussians and under a less energetic 
chief than Bliicher, would have failed altogether in effecting 
a passage through the swamps into which the incessant rain 
had transformed the greater part of the ground through which 
it was necessary to move, not only with columns of foot, but 
with cavalry and artillery. At one point of the march, on 
entering the defile of St. Lambert, the spirits of the Prus- 
sians almost gave way. Exhausted in the attempts to extri- 
cate and drag forward the heavy guns, the men began to 
murmur. Bliicher came to the spot and heard cries from 
the ranks of " We cannot get on." " But you vtust get on," 
was the old field-marshal's answer. " I have pledged my 
word to Wellington, and you surely will not make me break 
it. Only exert yourselves for a few hours longer, and we are 
sure of victory." This appeal from old " Marshal Forwards," 
as the Prussian soldiers loved to call Bliicher, had its wonted 



i8i5] BATTLE OF WATERLOO 387 

effect. The Prussians again moved forward, slowly, indeed, 
and with pain and toil ; but still they moved forward. 

The French and British armies lay on the open field during 
the wet and stormy night of the 17th ; and when the dawn of 
the memorable i8th of June broke, the rain was still descend- 
ing heavily upon Waterloo. The rival nations rose from 
their dreary bivouacs and began to form, each on the high 
ground which it occupied. Towards nine the weather grew 
clearer, and each army was able to watch the position and 
arrangements of the other on the opposite side of the valley. 

The Duke of Wellington drew up his army in two lines, 
the principal one being stationed near the crest of the ridge 
of hills already described, and the other being arranged along 
the slope in the rear of his position. Commencing from the 
eastward, on the extreme left of the first or main line, were 
Vivian's and Vandeleur's brigades of light cavalry, and the 
fifth Hanoverian brigade of infantry under Von Vincke. 
Then came Best's fourth Hanoverian brigade. Detachments 
from these bodies of troops occupied the little villages of 
Papelotte and La Haye, down the hollow in advance of the 
left of the duke's position. To the right of Best's Hanoveri- 
ans, Bylandt's brigade of Dutch and Belgian infantry was 
drawn up on the outer slope of the heights. Behind them 
were the ninth brigade of British infantry under Pack ; and 
to the right of these last, but more in advance, stood the 
eighth brigade of English infantry under Kempt. These 
were close to the Charleroi road and to the center of the 
entire position. These two English brigades, with the fifth 
Hanoverian, made up the fifth division, commanded by Sir 
Thomas Picton. Immediately to their right, and westward 
of the Charleroi road, stood the third division, commanded 
by General Alten, and consisting of Ompteda's brigade of 
the king's German Legion and Kielmansegge's Hanoverian 
brigade. The important post of La Haye Sainte, which, it 
will be remembered, lay in front of the duke's center, close 
to the Charleroi road, was garrisoned with troops from this 
division. Westward, and on the right of Kielmansegge's 
Hanoverians, stood the fifth British brigade under Halkett ; 
and behind, Kruse's Nassau brigade was posted. On the 
right of Halkett's men stood the English Guards. They 



388 DECISIVE BATTLES [1815 

were in two brigades, one commanded by Maitland, and the 
other by Byng. The entire division was under General 
Cooke. The buildings and gardens of Hougoumont, which 
lay immediately under the height on which stood the British 
Guards, were principally manned by detachments from Byng's 
brigade, aided by some brave Hanoverian riflemen and ac- 
companied by a battalion of a Nassau regiment. On a 
plateau in the rear of Cooke's division of Guards, and inclin- 
ing westward towards the village of Merbe Braine, were 
Clinton's second infantry division, composed of Adams's third 
brigade of light infantry, Du Plat's first brigade of the king's 
German Legion, and third Hanoverian brigade under Colonel 
Halkett. 

The duke formed his second line of cavalry. This only 
extended behind the right and center of his first line. The 
largest mass was drawn up behind the brigades of infantry in 
the center, on either side of the Charleroi road. The brigade 
of household cavalry under Lord Somerset was on the imme- 
diate right of the road, and on the left of it was Ponsonby's 
brigade. Behind these were Trip's and Ghingy's brigades of 
Dutch and Belgian horse. The third Hussars of the king's 
German Legion were to the right of Somerset's brigade. To 
the right of these, and behind Maitland's infantry, stood the 
third brigade under Dornberg, consisting of the twenty-third 
English light dragoons and the regiments of light dragoons 
of the king's German Legion. The last cavalry on the right 
was Grant's brigade, stationed in the rear of the Foot Guards. 
The corps of Brunswickers, both horse and foot, and the tenth 
British brigade of foot were in reserve behind the center and 
right of the entire position. The artillery was distributed at 
convenient intervals along the front of the whole line. Be- 
sides the generals who have been mentioned. Lord Hill, Lord 
Uxbridge (who had the general command of the cavalry), 
the Prince of Orange, and General Chasse were present and 
acting under the duke.* 

On the opposite heights the French army was drawn up 
in two general lines, with the entire force of the Imperial 
Guards, cavalry as well as infantry, in rear of the center, as 
a reserve. 

The first line of the French army was formed of the two 



i8i5] BATTLE OF WATERLOO 3^9 

corps commanded by Count d'Erlon and Count Reille. 
D'Erlon's corps was on the right, that is, eastward of the 
Charleroi road, and consisted of four divisions of infantry 
under Generals Durette, Marcognet, Alix, and Donzelot, and of 
one division of light cavalry under General Jaquinot. Count 
Reille's corps formed the left or western wing, and was formed 
of Bachelu's, Foy's, and Jerome Bonaparte's divisions of in- 
fantry and of Fire's division of cavalry. The right wing of 
the second general French line was formed of Milhaud's corps, 
consisting of two divisions of heavy cavalry. The left wing 
of this line was formed by Kellermann's cavalry corps, also 
in two divisions. Thus each of the corps of infantry that 
composed the first line had a corps of cavalry behind it ; but 
the second line consisted also of Lobau's corps of infantry 
and Domont and Subervie's divisions of light cavalry ; these 
three bodies of troops being drawn up on either side of La 
Belle Alliance and forming the center of the second line. 
The third, or reserve, line had its center composed of the 
infantry of the Imperial Guard. Two regiments of grena- 
diers and two of chasseurs formed the foot of the Old Guard 
under General Friant. The Middle Guard, under Count 
Morand, was similarly composed ; while two regiments of 
voltigeurs and two of tirailleurs, under Duhesme, constituted 
the Young Guard. The chasseurs and lancers of the Guard 
were on the right of the infantry, under Lefebvre Desnouettes ; 
and the grenadiers and dragoons of the Guards, under Guyot, 
were on the left. All the French corps comprised, besides 
their cavalry and infantry regiments, strong batteries of horse- 
artillery ; and Napoleon's numerical superiority in guns was 
of deep importance throughout the action. 

Besides the leading generals who have been mentioned as 
commanding particular corps, Ney and Soult were present 
and acted as the emperor's lieutenants in the battle. 

English military critics have highly eulogized the admirable 
arrangement which Napoleon made of his forces of each arm 
so as to give him the most ample means of sustaining, by an 
immediate and sufficient support, any attack, from whatever 
point he might direct it, and of drawing promptly together a 
strong force to resist any attack that might be made on him- 
self in any part of the field. When his troops were all arrayed, 



390 DECISIVE BATTLES [1815 

he rode along the lines, receiving everywhere the most enthu- 
siastic cheers from his men, of whose entire devotion to him 
his assurance was now doubly sure. On the northern side of 
the valley the duke's army was also drawn up, and ready to 
meet the menaced attack. 

Wellington had caused, on the preceding night, every bri- 
gade and corps to take up its station on or near the part of 
the ground which it was intended to hold in the coming battle. 
He had slept a few hours at his headquarters in the village 
of Waterloo; and rising on the i8th, while it was yet deep 
night, he wrote several letters, to the Governor of Antwerp, 
to the English Minister at Brussels, and other official person- 
ages, in which he expressed his confidence that all would go 
well ; but, " as it was necessary to provide against serious 
losses should any accident occur," he gave a series of judi- 
cious orders for what should be done in the rear of the army 
in the event of the battle going against the Allies. He also, 
before he left the village of Waterloo, saw to the distribution 
of the reserves of ammunition which had been parked there, 
so that supplies should be readily forwarded to every part of 
the line of battle where they might be required. The duke, 
also, personally inspected the arrangements that had been 
made for receiving the wounded and providing temporary 
hospitals in the houses in the rear of the army. Then, mount- 
ing a favorite charger, a small thoroughbred chestnut horse, 
named " Copenhagen," Wellington rode forward to the range 
of hills where his men were posted. Accompanied by his 
staff and by the Prussian General Muffling, he rode along his 
lines, carefully inspecting all the details of his position. Hou- 
goumont was the object of his special attention. He rode 
down to the southeastern extremity of its enclosures, and, 
after having examined the nearest French troops, he made 
some changes in the disposition of his own men who were to 
defend that important post. 

Having given his final orders about Hougoumont, the duke 
galloped back to the high ground in the right center of his 
position, and, halting there, sat watching the enemy on the 
opposite heights and conversing with his staff with that cheer- 
ful serenity which was ever his characteristic in the hour of 
battle. 



i8i5] BATTLE OF WATERLOO 391 

Not all brave men are thus gifted ; and many a glance of 
anxious excitement must have been cast across the valley that 
separated the two hosts during the protracted pause which 
ensued between the completion of Napoleon's preparations 
for attack and the actual commencement of the contest. It 
was, indeed, an awful calm before the coming storm, when 
armed myriads stood gazing on their armed foes, scanning 
their number, their array, their probable powers of resistance 
and destruction, and listening with throbbing hearts for the 
momentarily expected note of death ; while visions of victory 
and glory came thronging on each soldier's high-strung brain, 
not unmingled with recollections of the home which his fall 
might soon leave desolate, nor without shrinking nature some- 
times prompting the cold thought that in a few moments he 
might be writhing in agony, or lie a trampled and mangled 
mass of clay, on the grass now waving so freshly and purely 
before him. 

Such thoughts wz7/ arise in human breasts, though the brave 
man soon silences ** the child within us that trembles before 
death," and nerves himself for the coming struggle by the 
mental preparation which Xenophon has finely called "the 
soldier's arraying his own soul for battle." Well, too, may 
we hope and believe that many a spirit sought aid from a 
higher and holier source, and that many a fervent, though 
silent, prayer arose on that Sabbath morn (the battle of Water- 
loo was fought on a Sunday) to the Lord of Sabaoth, the God 
of Battles, from the ranks whence so many thousands were 
about to appear that day before his judgment-seat. 

Not only to those who were thus present as spectators and 
actors in the dread drama, but to all Europe, the decisive con- 
test then impending between the rival French and English 
nations, each under its chosen chief, was the object of excit- 
ing interest and deepest solicitude. " Never, indeed, had two 
such generals as the Duke of Wellington and the Emperor 
Napoleon encountered since the day when Scipio and Hanni- 
bal met at Zama." 

The two great champions who now confronted each other 
were equals in years, and each had entered the military pro- 
fession at the same early age. The more conspicuous stage 
on which the French general's youthful genius was displayed, 



392 DECISIVE BATTLES [1815 

his heritage of the whole miUtary power of the French repub- 
Hc, the position on which for years he was elevated as sover- 
eign head of an empire surpassing that of Charlemagne, and 
the dazzling results of his victories, which made and unmade 
kings, had given him a formidable preeminence in the eyes 
of mankind. Military men spoke with justly rapturous ad- 
miration of the brilliancy of his first Italian campaigns, when 
he broke through the pedantry of traditional tactics and with 
a small but promptly wielded force shattered army after army 
of the Austrians, conquered provinces and capitals, dictated 
treaties, and annihilated or created states. The iniquity of 
his Egyptian expedition was too often forgotten in contem- 
plating the skill and boldness with which he destroyed the 
Mameluke cavalry at the Pyramids, and the Turkish infantry 
at Aboukir. None could forget the marvelous passage of the 
Alps in 1800, or the victory of Marengo, which wrested Italy 
back from Austria and destroyed the fruit of twenty victories 
which the enemies of France had gained over her in the 
absence of her favorite chief. Even higher seemed the glories 
of his German campaigns, the triumphs of Ulm, of Austerlitz, 
of Jena, of Wagram. Napoleon's disasters in Russia, in 18 12, 
were imputed by his admirers to the elements ; his reverses 
in Germany, in 18 13, were attributed by them to treachery; 
and even those two calamitous years had been signalized by 
his victories at Borodino, at Lutzen, at Bautzen, at Dresden, 
and at Hanau. His last campaign, in the early months of 
18 14, was rightly cited as the most splendid exhibition of his 
military genius, when, with a far inferior army, he long checked 
and frequently defeated the vast hosts that were poured upon 
France. His followers fondly hoped that the campaign of 
1815 would open with another "week of miracles," like that 
which had seen his victories at Montmirail and Montereau. 
The laurel of Ligny was even now fresh upon his brows. 
Bliicher had not stood before him ; and who was the adversary 
that now should bar the emperor's way .-' 

That adversary had already overthrown the emperor's best 
generals and the emperor's best armies, and, like Napoleon 
himself, had achieved a reputation in more than European 
wars. Wellington was illustrious as the destroyer of the 
Mahratta power, as the liberator of Portugal and Spain, and 



l8i5] BATTLE OF WATERLOO 393 

the successful invader of Southern France. In early youth 
he had held high command in India, and had displayed emi- 
nent skill in planning and combining movements, and unri- 
valed celerity and boldness in execution. On his return to 
Europe, several years passed away before any fitting oppor- 
tunity was accorded for the exercise of his genius. In this 
important respect, Wellington, as a subject, and Napoleon, 
as a sovereign, were far differently situated. At length his 
appointment to the command in the Spanish Peninsula gave 
him the means of showing Europe that England had a gen- 
eral who could revive the glories of Crecy, of Poitiers, of 
Agincourt, of Blenheim, and of Ramilies. At the head of 
forces always numerically far inferior to the armies with which 
Napoleon deluged the Peninsula ; thwarted by jealous and 
incompetent allies ; ill supported by friends and assailed by 
factious enemies at home, Wellington maintained the war for 
seven years, unstained by any serious reverse, and marked 
by victory in thirteen pitched battles, at Vimiera, the Douro, 
Talavera, Busaco, Fuentes de Onoro, Salamanca, Vittoria, 
the Pyrenees, the Bidassoa, the Nive, the Nivelle, Orthes, 
and Toulouse. Junot, Victor, Massena, Ney, Marmont, and 
Jourdain — marshals whose names were the terror of Con- 
tinental Europe — had been baffled by his skill and smitten 
down by his energy, while he liberated the kingdoms of the 
Peninsula from them and their imperial master. In vain did 
Napoleon at last despatch Soult, the ablest of his lieutenants, 
to turn the tide of Wellington's success and defend France 
against the English invader. Wellington met Soult's maneu- 
vers with superior skill, and his boldness with superior vigor. 
When Napoleon's first abdication, in 1814, suspended hostili- 
ties, Wellington was master of the fairest districts of Southern 
France, and had under him a veteran army with which (to 
use his own expressive phrase) " he felt he could have gone 
anywhere and done anything." The fortune of war had 
hitherto kept separate the orbits in which Napoleon and he 
had moved. Now, on the ever-memorable i8th of June, 18 15, 
they met at last. 

It is, indeed, remarkable that Napoleon, during his numer- 
ous campaigns in Spain as well as other countries, not only 
never encountered the Duke of Wellington before the day of 



394 DECISIVE BATTLES [1815 

Waterloo, but that he was never until then personally engaged 
with British troops, except at the siege of Toulon, in 1793, 
which was the very first incident of his military career. 
Many, however, of the French generals who were with him 
in 18 1 5 knew well, by sharp experience, what English sol- 
diers were and what the leader was who now headed them. 
Ney, Foy, and other officers who had served in the Peninsula 
warned Napoleon that he would find the English infantry 
"very devils in fight." The emperor, however, persisted in 
employing the old system of attack, with which the French 
generals often succeeded against Continental troops but 
which had always failed against the English in the Peninsula. 
He adhered to his usual tactics of employing the order of 
the column, a mode of attack probably favored by him (as 
Sir Walter Scott remarks) on account of his faith in the 
extreme valor of the French officers by whom the column 
was headed. It is a threatening formation, well calculated to 
shake the firmness of ordinary foes, but which, when steadily 
met, as the English have met it, by heavy volleys of musketry 
from an extended line, followed up by a resolute bayonet 
charge, has always resulted in disaster to the assailants.^ 

It was approaching noon before the action commenced. 
Napoleon, in his " Memoirs," gives as the reason for this 
delay the miry state of the ground through the heavy rain 
of the preceding night and day, which rendered it impossible 
for cavalry or artillery to maneuver on it till a few hours of 
dry weather had given it its natural consistency. It has been 
supposed, also, that he trusted to the effect which the sight 
of the imposing array of his own forces was likely to produce 
on the part of the allied army. The Belgian regiments had 
been tampered with, and Napoleon had well-founded hopes 
of seeing them quit the Duke of Wellington in a body and 
range themselves under his own eagles. The duke, however, 
who knew and did not trust them, had guarded against the 
risk of this by breaking up the corps of Belgians and dis- 
tributing them in separate regiments among troops on whom 
he could rely. 

At last, at about half-past eleven o'clock. Napoleon began 
the battle by directing a powerful force from his left wing 
under his brother, Prince Jerome, to attack Hougoumont. 



i8is] BATTLE OF WATERLOO 395 

Column after column of the French now descended from the 
west of the southern heights and assailed that post with fiery 
valor, which was encountered with the most determined brav- 
ery. The French won the copse round the house, but a party 
of the British Guards held the house itself throughout the 
day. The whole of Byng's brigade was required to man this 
hotly contested post. Amid shell and shot, and the blazing 
fragments of part of the buildings, this obstinate contest was 
continued. But still the English were firm in Hougoumont, 
though the French occasionally moved forward in such num- 
bers as enabled them to surround and mask it with part of 
their troops from their left wing, while others pressed onward 
up the slope and assailed the British right. 

The cannonade, which commenced at first between the 
British right and the French left, in consequence of the attack 
on Hougoumont, soon became general along both lines ; and, 
about one o'clock, Napoleon directed a grand attack to be 
made under Marshal Ney upon the center and left wing of 
the allied army. For this purpose four columns of infantry, 
amounting to about eighteen thousand men, were collected, 
supported by a strong division of cavalry under the celebrated 
Kellermann ; and seventy-four guns were brought forward 
ready to be posted on the ridge of a little undulation of the 
ground in the interval between the two principal chains of 
heights, so as to bring their fire to bear on the duke's line 
at a range of about seven hundred yards. By the combined 
assault of these formidable forces, led on by Ney, " the brav- 
est of the brave," Napoleon hoped to force the left center of 
the British position, to take La Haye Sainte, and then, press- 
ing forward, to occupy also the farm of Mont St. Jean. He 
then could cut the mass of Wellington's troops off from their 
line of retreat upon Brussels and from their own left, and 
also completely sever them from any Prussian troops that 
might be approaching. 

The columns destined for this great and decisive operation 
descended majestically from the French line of hills and 
gained the ridge of the intervening eminence, on which the 
batteries that supported them were now ranged. As the 
columns descended again from this eminence, the seventy- 
four guns opened over their heads with terrible effect upon 



396 DECISIVE BATTLES [1815 

the troops of the Allies that were stationed on the heights 
to the left of the Charleroi road. One of the French col- 
umns kept to the east and attacked the extreme left of the 
AUies ; the other three continued to move rapidly forwards 
upon the left center of the allied position. The front line of 
the Allies here was composed of Bylandt's brigade of Dutch 
and Belgians. As the French columns moved up the south- 
ward slope of the height on which the Dutch and Belgians 
stood, and the skirmishers in advance began to open their fire, 
Bylandt's entire brigade turned and fled in disgraceful and 
disorderly panic ; but there were men more worthy of the 
name behind. 

In this part of the second line of the allies were posted Pack 
and Kempt's brigades of English infantry, which had suffered 
severely at Quatre Bras. But Picton was here as general of 
division, and not even Ney himself surpassed in resolute brav- 
ery that stern and fiery spirit. Picton brought his two bri- 
gades forward, side by side, in a thin, two-deep line. Thus 
joined together, they were not three thousand strong. With 
these Picton had to make head against the three victorious 
French columns, upwards of four times that strength, and 
who, encouraged by the easy rout of the Dutch and Belgians, 
now came confidently over the ridge of the hill. The British 
infantry stood firm ; and as the French halted and began to 
deploy into line, Picton seized the critical moment. He 
shouted in his stentorian voice to Kempt's brigade : " A vol- 
ley, and then charge!" At a distance of less than thirty 
yards that volley was poured upon the devoted first sections 
of the nearest column ; and then, with a fierce hurrah, the 
British dashed in with the bayonet. Picton was shot dead as 
he rushed forward, but his men pushed on with the cold 
steel. The French reeled back in confusion. Pack's infan- 
try had checked the other two columns, and down came a 
whirlwind of British horse on the whole mass, sending them 
staggering from the crest of the hill and cutting them down 
by whole battalions. Ponsonby's brigade of heavy cavalry 
(the Union Brigade, as it was called, from its being made up 
of the British Royals, the Scots Greys, and the Irish Innis- 
killings) did this good service. On went the horsemen amid 
the wrecks of the French columns, capturing two eagles and 



i8i5] BATTLE OF WATERLOO 397 

two thousand prisoners; onward still they galloped, and 
sabered the artillerymen of Ney's seventy-four advanced guns ; 
then severing the traces and cutting the throats of the artil- 
lery horses, they rendered these guns totally useless to the 
French throughout the remainder of the day. While thus 
far advanced beyond the British position and disordered by 
success, they were charged by a large body of French lancers 
and driven back with severe loss, till Vandeleur's light-horse 
came to their aid and beat off the French lancers in their 
turn. 

Equally unsuccessful with the advance of the French 
infantry in this grand attack had been the efforts of the 
French cavalry who moved forward in support of it, along the 
east of the Charleroi road. Somerset's cavalry of the Eng- 
lish Household Brigade had been launched, on the right of 
Picton's division, against the French horse, at the same time 
that the English Union Brigade of heavy-horse charged the 
French infantry columns on the left. 

Somerset's brigade was formed of the Life Guards, the 
Blues, and the Dragoon Guards. The hostile cavalry, which 
Kellermann led forward, consisted chiefly of cuirassiers. This 
steel-clad mass of French horsemen rode down some com- 
panies of German infantry, near La Haye Sainte, and, flushed 
with success, they bounded onward to the ridge of the British 
position. The English Household Brigade, led on by the 
Earl of Uxbridge in person, spurred forward to the en- 
counter, and in an instant the two adverse lines of strong 
swordsmen, on their strong steeds, dashed furiously together. 
A desperate and sanguinary hand-to-hand fight ensued, in 
which the physical superiority of the Anglo-Saxons, guided 
by equal skill and animated with equal valor, was made deci- 
sively manifest. Back went the chosen cavalry of France ; 
and after them, in hot pursuit, spurred the English Guards. 
They went forward as far and as fiercely as their comrades 
of the Union Brigade ; and, like them, the Household cav- 
alry suffered severely before they regained the British posi- 
tion, after their magnificent charge and adventurous pursuit. 

Napoleon's grand effort to break the English left center 
had thus completely failed ; and his right wing was seriously 
weakened by the heavy loss which it had sustained. Hougou- 



398 DECISIVE BATTLES [1815 

mont was still being assailed, and was still successfully resist- 
ing. Troops were now beginning to appear at the edge of 
the horizon on Napoleon's right, which he too well knew to 
be Prussian, though he endeavored to persuade his followers 
that they were Grouchy's men coming to their aid. 

Grouchy was, in fact, now engaged at Wavre with his 
whole force against Thielman's single Prussian corps, while 
the other three corps of the Pussian army were moving with- 
out opposition, save from the difficulties of the ground, upon 
Waterloo. Grouchy believed, on the 17th, and caused Napo- 
leon to believe, that the Prussian army was retreating by 
lines of march remote from Waterloo upon Namur and 
Maestricht. Napoleon learned only on the i8th that there 
were Prussians in Wavre, and felt jealous about the security 
of his own right. He accordingly, before he attacked the 
English, sent Grouchy orders to engage the Prussians at 
Wavre without delay, and to approach the main French army, 
so as to unite his cotmmmication with the emperor s. Grouchy 
entirely neglected this last part of his instructions ; and in 
attacking the Prussians whom he found at Wavre, he spread 
his force more and more towards his right, that is to say, in 
the direction most remote from Napoleon. He thus knew 
nothing of Bliicher's and Bulow's flank march upon Waterloo 
till six in the evening of the i8th, when he received a note 
which Soult, by Napoleon's orders, had sent off from the 
field of battle at Waterloo at one o'clock, to inform Grouchy 
that Bulow was coming over the heights of St. Lambert, on 
the emperor's right flank, and directing Grouchy to approach 
and join the main army instantly, and crush Bulow en flagrant 
delit. It was then too late for Grouchy to obey ; but it is 
remarkable that as early as noon on the i8th, and while 
Grouchy had not proceeded as far as Wavre, he and his suite 
heard the sound of heavy cannonading in the direction of 
Planchenoit and Mont St. Jean. General Gerard, who was 
with Grouchy, implored him to march towards the cannon- 
ade and join his operations with those of Napoleon, who 
was evidently engaged with the English. Grouchy refused 
to do so or even to detach part of his force in that direction. 
He said that his instructions were to fight the Prussians at 
Wavre. He marched upon Wavre, and fought for the rest 



i8i5] BATTLE OF WATERLOO 399 

of the day with Thiehiian accordingly, while Bliicher and 
Bulow were attacking the emperor.^ 

Napoleon had witnessed with bitter disappointment the rout 
of his troops — foot, horse, and artillery — which attacked the 
left center of the English, and the obstinate resistance which 
the garrison of Hougoumont opposed to all the exertions of 
his left wing. He now caused the batteries along the line 
of high ground held by him to be strengthened, and for some 
time an unremitting and most destructive cannonade raged 
across the valley, to the partial cessation of other conflict. 
But the superior fire of the French artillery, though it weak- 
ened, could not break the British line, and more close and 
summary measures were requisite. 

It was now about half-past three o'clock ; and though Well- 
ington's army had suffered severely by the unremitting can- 
nonade, and in the late desperate encounter, no part of the 
British position had been forced. Napoleon determined there- 
fore to try what effect he could produce on the British center 
and right by charges of his splendid cavalry, brought on in 
such force that the duke's cavalry could not check them. 
Fresh troops were at the same time sent to assail La Haye 
Sainte and Hougoumont, the possession of these posts being 
the emperor's unceasing object. Squadron after squadron of 
the French cuirassiers accordingly ascended the slopes on the 
duke's right and rode forward with dauntless courage against 
the batteries of the British artillery in that part of the field. 
The artillerymen were driven from their guns, and the cuiras- 
siers cheered loudly at their supposed triumph. But the 
duke had formed his infantry in squares, and the cuirassiers 
charged in vain against the impenetrable hedges of bayonets, 
while the fire from the inner ranks of the squares told with 
terrible effect on their squadrons. Time after time they 
rode forward, with invariably the same result ; and as they 
receded from each attack the British artillerymen rushed 
forward from the centers of the squares, where they had 
taken refuge, and plied their guns on the retiring horsemen.^ 
Nearly the whole of Napoleon's magnificent body of heavy 
cavalry was destroyed in these fruitless attempts upon the 
British right. But in another part of the field fortune favored 
him for a time. Two French columns of infantry from Donze- 



400 DECISIVE BATTLES [1815 

lot's division took La Haye Sainte between six and seven 
o'clock, and the means were now given for organizing an- 
other formidable attack on the center of the Allies. 

There was no time to be lost — Bliicher and Bulow were 
beginning to press hard upon the French right. As early as 
five o'clock, Napoleon had been obliged to detach Lobau's 
infantry and Domont's horse to check these new enemies. 
They succeeded in doing so for a time ; but as larger num- 
bers of the Prussians came on the field, they turned Lobau's 
right flank and sent a strong force to seize the village of 
Planchenoit, which, it will be remembered, lay in the rear of 
the French right. 

The design of the Allies was not merely to prevent Napo- 
leon from advancing upon Brussels, but to cut off his line of 
retreat and utterly destroy his army. The defense of Planche- 
noit therefore became absolutely essential for the safety of 
the French, and Napoleon was obliged to send his Young 
Guard to occupy that village, which was accordingly held by 
them with great gallantry against the reiterated assaults of 
the Prussian left, under Bulow. Three times did the Prus- 
sians fight their way into Planchenoit, and as often did the 
French drive them out ; the contest was maintained with the 
fiercest desperation on both sides, such being the animosity 
between the two nations that quarter was seldom given or 
even asked. Other Prussian forces were now appearing on 
the field nearer to the English left, whom also Napoleon 
kept in check by troops detached for that purpose. Thus 
a large part of the French army was now thrown back on 
a line at right angles with the line of that portion which still 
confronted and assailed the English position. But this por- 
tion was now numerically inferior to the force under the Duke 
of Wellington, which Napoleon had been assailing through- 
out the day, without gaining any other advantage than the 
capture of La Haye Sainte. It is true that, owing to the 
gross misconduct of the greater part of the Dutch and 
Belgian troops, the duke was obliged to rely exclusively on 
his English and German soldiers, and the ranks of these had 
been fearfully thinned ; but the survivors stood their ground 
heroically, and opposed a resolute front to every forward 
movement of their enemies. 



i8i5] BATTLE OF WATERLOO 401 

On no point of the British line was the pressure more 
severe than on Halkett's brigade in the right center, which 
was composed of battalions of the 30th, the 33d, the 69th, 
and the 73d British regiments. We fortunately can quote 
from the journal of a brave officer of the 30th a narrative 
of what took place in this part of the field. The late Major 
Macready served at Waterloo in the light company of the 
30th. The extent of the peril and the carnage which Hal- 
kett's brigade had to encounter may be judged of by the 
fact that this light company marched into the field three 
officers and fifty-one men, and that at the end of the battle 
they stood one officer and ten men. Major Macready's blunt 
soldierly account of what he actually saw and felt gives a far 
better idea of the terrific scene than can be gained from the 
polished generalizations which the conventional style of his- 
tory requires, or even from the glowing stanzas of the poet. 
During the earlier part of the day Macready and his light 
company were thrown forward as skirmishers in front of the 
brigade ; but when the French cavalry commenced their 
attacks on the British right center, he and his comrades were 
ordered back. The brave soldier thus himself describes 
what passed : — 

" Before the commencement of this attack our company 
and the grenadiers of the 73d were skirmishing briskly in 
the low ground, covering our guns and annoying those of 
the enemy. The line of tirailleurs opposed to us was not 
stronger than our own, but on a sudden they were reenforced 
by numerous bodies, and several guns began playing on us 
with canister. Our poor fellows dropped very fast, and 
Colonel Vigoureux, Rumley, and Pratt were carried off badly 
wounded in about two minutes. I was now commander of 
our company. We stood under this hurricane of small shot 
till Halkett sent to order us in, and I brought away about 
a third of the light bobs ; the rest were killed or wounded, 
and I really wonder how one of them escaped. As our 
bugler was killed, I shouted and made signals to move by 
the left, in order to avoid the fire of our guns and to put 
as good a face upon the business as possible. 

" When I reached Lloyd's abandoned guns, I stood near 
them for about a minute to contemplate the scene : it was 



402 DECISIVE BATTLES [1815 

grand beyond description. Hougoumont and its wood sent 
up a broad flame through the dark masses of smoke that 
overhung the field; beneath this cloud the French were 
indistinctly visible. Here a waving mass of long red feathers 
could be seen ; there, gleams as from a sheet of steel showed 
that the cuirassiers were moving ; 400 cannon were belching 
forth fire and death on every side ; the roaring and shouting 
were indistinguishably commixed — together they gave me 
an idea of a laboring volcano. Bodies of infantry and cav- 
alry were pouring down on us, and it was time to leave con- 
templation ; so I moved towards our columns, which were 
standing up in square. Our regiment and 73d formed one, 
and 33d and 69th another; to our right beyond them were 
the Guards, and on our left the Hanoverians and German 
Legion of our division. As I entered the rear face of our 
square I had to step over a body, and, looking down, recog- 
nized Harry Beere, an officer of our grenadiers, who about 
an hour before shook hands with me, laughing, as I left the 
columns. I was on the usual terms of military intimacy with 
poor Harry — that is to say, if either of us had died a natural 
death, the other would have pitied him as a good fellow, and 
smiled at his neighbor as he congratulated him on the step ; 
but seeing his herculean frame and animated countenance 
thus suddenly stiff and motionless before me (I know not 
whence the feeling could originate, for I had just seen my 
dearest friend drop, almost with indifference), the tears 
started in my eyes as I sighed out, ' Poor Harry ! ' The 
tear was not dry on my cheek when poor Harry was no 
longer thought of. In a few minutes after, the enemy's 
cavalry galloped up and crowned the crest of our position. 
Our guns were abandoned, and they formed between the 
two brigades, about a hundred paces in our front. Their 
first charge was magnificent. As soon as they quickened 
their trot into a gallop, the cuirassiers bent their heads so 
that the peaks of their helmets looked like vizors, and they 
seemed cased in armor from the plume to the saddle. Not 
a shot was fired till they were within thirty yards, when the 
word was given and our men fired away at them. The 
effect was magical. Through the smoke we could see hel- 
mets falling, cavaliers starting from their seats with convul- 



i8i5] BATTLE OF WATERLOO 403 

sive springs as they received our balls, horses plunging and 
rearing in the agonies of fright and pain, and crowds of the 
soldiery dismounted, part of the squadron in retreat, but the 
more daring remainder backing their horses to force them 
on our bayonets. Our fire soon disposed of these gentle- 
men. The main body re-formed in our front, and rapidly 
and gallantly repeated their attacks. In fact, from this time 
(about four o'clock) till near six, we had a constant repeti- 
tion of these brave but unavailing charges. There was no 
difficulty in repulsing them, but our ammunition decreased 
alarmingly. At length an artillery wagon galloped up, 
emptied two or three casks of cartridges into the square, 
and we were all comfortable. 

"The best cavalry is contemptible to a steady and well- 
supplied infantry regiment ; even our men saw this, and be- 
gan to pity the useless perseverance of their assailants, and, 
as they advanced, would growl out, ' Here come these fools 
again ! ' One of their superior officers tried a ruse de guerre, 
by advancing and dropping his sword, as though he sur- 
rendered ; some of us were deceived by him, but Halkett 
ordered the men to fire, and he coolly retired, saluting us. 
Their devotion was invincible. One officer whom we had 
taken prisoner was asked what force Napoleon might have 
in the field, and replied with a smile of mingled derision and 
threatening, ' Vous verrez bientot sa force, messieurs ! ' A 
private cuirassier was wounded and dragged into the square ; 
his only cry was, ' Tuez done, tuez, tuez moi, soldats ! ' and 
as one of our men dropped dead close to him, he seized his 
bayonet and forced it into his own neck; but this not 
despatching him, he raised up his cuirass and, plunging the 
bayonet into his stomach, kept working it about till he ceased 
to breathe. 

" Though we constantly thrashed our steel-clad opponents, 
we found more troublesome customers in the round shot and 
grape, which all this time played on us with terrible effect 
and fully avenged the cuirassiers. Often as the volleys created 
openings in our square would the cavalry dash on, but they 
were uniformly unsuccessful. A regiment on our right 
seemed sadly disconcerted, and at one moment was in con- 
siderable confusion. Halkett rode out to them, and, seizing 



404 DECISIVE BATTLES [1815 

their color, waved it over his head and restored them to 
something like order, though not before his horse was shot 
under him. At the height of their unsteadiness we got the 
order to ' right face ' to move to their assistance ; some of the 
men mistook it for ' right about face,' and faced accordingly, 
when old Major M'Laine, 73d, called out, ' No, my boys, it's 
"right face " ; you'll never hear the right about as long as a 
French bayonet is in front of you ! ' In a few moments he 
was mortally wounded. A regiment of light dragoons, by 
their facings either the i6th or 23d, came up to our left and 
charged the cuirassiers. We cheered each other as they 
passed us ; they did all they could, but were obliged to retire 
after a few minutes at the saber. A body of Belgian cavalry 
advanced for the same purpose, but on passing our square 
they stopped short. Our noble Halkett rode out to them and 
offered to charge at their head ; it was of no use ; the Prince 
of Orange came up and exhorted them to do their duty, but 
in vain. They hesitated till a few shots whizzed through 
them, when they turned about and galloped like fury, or, 
rather, like fear. As they passed the right face of our square 
the men, irritated by their rascally conduct, unanimously took 
up their pieces and fired a volley into them, and ' many a good 
fellow was destroyed so cowardly.' 

" The enemy's cavalry were by this time nearly disposed 
of, and as they had discovered the inutility of their charges, 
they commenced annoying us by a spirited and well-directed 
carbine fire. While we were employed in this manner it was 
impossible to see farther than the columns on our right and 
left, but I imagine most of the army were similarly situated : 
all the British and Germans were doing their duty. About 
six o'clock I perceived some artillery trotting up our hill, 
which I knew by their caps to belong to the Imperial Guard. 
I had hardly mentioned this to a brother officer when two 
guns unlimbered within seventy paces of us, and, by their 
first discharge of grape, blew seven men into the center of 
the square. They immediately reloaded, and kept up a con- 
stant and destructive fire. It was noble to see our fellows fill 
up the gaps after every discharge. I was much distressed at 
this moment ; having ordered up three of my light bobs, 
they had hardly taken their station when two of them fell. 



i8i5] BATTLE OF WATERLOO 405 

horribly lacerated. One of them looked up in my face and 
uttered a sort of reproachful groan, and I involuntarily ex- 
claimed, ' I couldn't help it.' We would wilHngly have charged 
these guns, but, had we deployed, the cavalry that flanked 
them would have made an example of us. 

•' The * vivida vis animi ' — the glow which fires one upon 
entering into action — had ceased; it was now to be seen 
which side had most bottom, and would stand killing longest. 
The duke visited us frequently at this momentous period; 
he was coolness personified. As he crossed the rear face of 
our square a shell fell amongst our grenadiers, and he checked 
his horse to see its effect. Some men were blown to pieces 
by the explosion, and he merely stirred the rein of his charger, 
apparently as little concerned at their fate as at his own dan- 
ger. No leader ever possessed so fully the confidence of his 
soldiery : wherever he appeared, a murmur of ' Silence ! Stand 
to your front! Here's the duke!' was heard .through the 
column, and then all was steady as on a parade. His aides-de- 
camp, Colonels Canning and Gordon, fell near our square, and 
the former died within it. As he came near us late in the 
evening, Halkett rode out to him and represented our weak 
state, begging his Grace to afford us a little support. ' It's 
impossible, Halkett,' said he. And our general replied, ' If 
so, sir, you may depend on the brigade to a man ! ' " 

All accounts of the battle show that the duke was ever 
present at each spot where danger seemed the most pressing, 
inspiriting his men by a few homely and good-humored words 
and restraining their impatience to be led forward to attack 
in their turn. " Hard pounding this, gentlemen : we will try 
who can pound the longest," was his remark to a battalion 
on which the storm from the French guns was pouring with 
peculiar fury. Riding up to one of the squares, which had 
been dreadfully weakened and against which a fresh attack 
of French cavalry was coming, he called to them : " Stand 
firm, my lads ; what will they say of this in England ? " As 
he rode along another part of the line, where the men had for 
some time been falling fast beneath the enemy's cannonade 
I without having any close fighting, a murmur reached his ear 

* of natural eagerness to advance and do something more than 

stand still to be shot at. The duke called to them : "Wait a 



406 DECISIVE BATTLES [1815 

little longer, my lads, and you shall have your wish." The 
men were instantly satisfied and steady. It was, indeed, in- 
dispensable for the duke to bide his time. The premature 
movement of a single corps down from the British line of 
heights would have endangered the whole position, and have 
probably made Waterloo a second Hastings. 

But the duke inspired all under him with his own spirit of 
patient firmness. When other generals besides Halkett sent 
to him begging for reenforcements, or for leave to withdraw 
corps which were reduced to skeletons, the answer was the 
same: "It is impossible; you must hold your ground to the 
last man, and all will be well." He gave a similar reply to 
some of his staff who asked instructions from him, so that, 
in the event of his falling, his successor might follow out his 
plan. He answered, " My plan is simply to stand my ground 
here to the last man." His personal danger was indeed 
imminent throughout the day ; and though he escaped with- 
out injury to himself or horse, one only of his numerous staff 
was equally fortunate.^ 

Napoleon had stationed himself during the battle on a little 
hillock near La Belle Alliance, in the center of the French 
position. Here he was seated, with a large table from the 
neighboring farmhouse before him, on which maps and plans 
were spread ; and thence with his telescope he surveyed the 
various points of the field. Soult watched his orders close at 
his left hand, and his staff was grouped on horseback a few 
paces in the rear.^ Here he remained till near the close of 
the day, preserving the appearance at least of calmness, 
except some expressions of irritation which escaped him 
when Ney's attack on the British left center was defeated. 
But now that the crisis of the battle was evidently approach- 
ing, he mounted a white Persian charger, which he rode in 
action because the troops easily recognized him by the horse's 
color. He had still the means of effecting a retreat. His 
Old Guard had yet taken no part in the action. Under cover 
of it, he might have withdrawn his shattered forces and re- 
tired upon the French frontier. But this would only have 
given the English and Prussians the opportunity of complet- 
ing their junction ; and he knew that other armies were fast 
coming up to aid them in a march upon Paris, if he should 



i8i5] BATTLE OF WATERLOO 407 

succeed in avoiding an encounter with them and retreating 
upon the capital. A victory at Waterloo was his only alter- 
native from utter ruin, and he determined to employ his 
Guard in one bold stroke more to make that victory his own. 
Between seven and eight o'clock the infantry of the Old 
Guard was formed into two columns, on the declivity near 
La Belle Alliance. Ney was placed at their head. Napo- 
leon himself rode forward to a spot by which his veterans 
were to pass ; and, as they approached, he raised his arm 
and pointed to the position of the Allies, as if to tell them 
that their path lay there. They answered with loud cries of 
"Vive I'Empereur ! " and descended the hill from their own 
side, into that "valley of the shadow of death," while the 
batteries thundered with redoubled vigor over their heads 
upon the British line. The line of march of the columns of 
the Guard was directed between Hougoumont and La Haye 
Sainte, against the British right center; and at the same 
time the French under Donzelot, who had possession of La 
Haye Sainte, commenced a fierce attack upon the British 
center, a little more to its left. This part of the battle has 
drawn less attention than the celebrated attack of the Old 
Guard ; but it formed the most perilous crisis for the allied 
army ; and if the Young Guard had been there to support 
Donzelot, instead of being engaged with the Prussians at 
Planchenoit, the consequences to the Allies in that part of the 
field must have been most serious. The French tirailleurs, 
who were posted in clouds in La Haye Sainte and the shel- 
tered spots near it, picked off the artillerymen of the English 
batteries near them ; and, taking advantage of the disabled 
state of the English guns, the French brought some field- 
pieces up to La Haye Sainte and commenced firing grape 
from them on the infantry of the Allies, at a distance of not 
more than a hundred paces. The allied infantry here con- 
sisted of some German brigades, who were formed in squares, 
as it was believed that Donzelot had cavalry ready behind La 
Haye Sainte to charge them with if they left that order of 
formation. In this state the Germans remained for some 
time with heroic fortitude, though the grape-shot was tearing 
gaps in their ranks and the side of one square was literally 
blown away by one tremendous volley which the French 



408 DECISIVE BATTLES [1815 

gunners poured into it. The Prince of Orange in vain 
endeavored to lead some Nassau troops to the aid of the 
brave Germans. The Nassauers would not or could not face 
the French ; and some battalions of Brunswickers, whom the 
Duke of Wellington had ordered up as a reenforcement, at 
first fell back, until the duke in person rallied them and led 
them on. Having thus barred the farther advance of Don- 
zelot, the duke galloped off to the right to head his men who 
were exposed to the attack of the Imperial Guard. He had 
saved one part of his center from being routed, but the 
French had gained ground and kept it ; and the pressure on 
the Allied hne in front of La Haye Sainte was fearfully 
severe, until it was relieved by the decisive success which the 
British in the right center achieved over the columns of the 
Guard. 

The British troops on the crest of that part of the position 
which the first column of Napoleon's Guards assailed were 
Maitland's brigade of British Guards, having Adams's brigade 
(which had been brought forward during the action) on their 
right. Maitland's men were lying down, in order to avoid as 
far as possible the destructive effect of the French artillery, 
which kept up an unremitting fire from the opposite heights, 
until the first column of the Imperial Guard had advanced so 
far up the slope towards the British position that any further 
firing of the French artillerymen would have endangered their 
own comrades. Meanwhile the British guns were not idle ; 
but shot and shell plowed fast through the ranks of the 
stately array of veterans that still moved imposingly on. 
Several of the French superior officers were at its head. 
Ney's horse was shot under him, but he still led the way, on 
foot, sword in hand. The front of the massive column now 
was on the ridge of the hill. To their surprise they saw no 
troops before them. All they could discern through the 
smoke was a small band of mounted officers. One of them 
was the duke himself. The French advanced to about fifty 
yards from where the British guards were lying down, when 
the voice of one of the group of British officers was heard 
calling, as if to the ground before him, " Up, Guards, and at 
them ! " It was the duke who gave the order ; and at the 
words, as if by magic, up started before them a line of the 



i8i5] BATTLE OF WATERLOO 409 

British Guards four deep, and in the most compact and per- 
fect order. They poured an instantaneous volley upon the 
head of the French column, by which no less than three 
hundred of those chosen veterans are said to have fallen. 
The French officers rushed forward, and, conspicuous in 
front of their men, attempted to deploy them into a more 
extended line, so as to enable them to reply with effect to the 
British fire. But Maitland's brigade kept showering in volley 
after volley with deadly rapidity. The decimated column 
grew disordered in its vain efforts to expand itself into a more 
efficient formation. The right word was given at the right 
moment to the British for the bayonet charge, and the bri- 
gade sprang forward with a loud cheer against their dismayed 
antagonists. In an instant the compact mass of the French 
spread out into a rabble, and they fled back down the hill, 
pursued by Maitland's men, who, however, returned to their 
position in time to take part in the repulse of the second 
column of the Imperial Guard. 

This column also advanced with great spirit and firmness 
under the cannonade which was opened on it and, passing 
by the eastern wall of Hougoumont, diverged slightly to the 
right as it moved up the slope towards the British position, 
so as to approach nearly the same spot where the first column 
had surmounted the height and been defeated. This enabled 
the British regiments of Adams's brigade to form a line par- 
allel to the left flank of the French column ; so that while 
the front of this column of French Guards had to encounter 
the cannonade of the British batteries and the musketry of 
Maitland's guards, its left flank was assailed with a destruc- 
tive fire by a four-deep body of British infantry, extending all 
along it. In such a position all the bravery and skill of the 
French veterans were vain. The second column, like its pred- 
ecessor, broke and fled, taking at first a lateral direction 
along the front of the British line towards the rear of La 
Haye Sainte, and so becoming blended with the divisions of 
French infantry which under Donzelot had been assailing the 
Allies so formidably in that quarter. The sight of the Old 
Guard broken and in flight checked the ardor which Don- 
zelot's troops had hitherto displayed. They, too, began to 
waver. Adams's victorious brigade was pressing after the 



4IO DECISIVE BATTLES [1815 

flying Guard, and now cleared away the assailants of the 
allied center. But the battle was not yet won. Napoleon 
had still some battalions in reserve near La Belle Alliance. 
He was rapidly rallying the remains of the first column of his 
Guards, and he had collected into one body the remnants of 
the various corps of cavalry which had suffered so severely 
in the earlier part of the day. The duke instantly formed 
the bold resolution of now himself becoming the assailant 
and leading his successful though enfeebled army forward 
while the disheartening effect of the repulse of the Imperial 
Guard on the rest of the French army was still strong, and 
before Napoleon and Ney could rally the beaten veterans 
themselves for another and a fiercer charge. As the close 
approach of the Prussians now completely protected the 
duke's left, he had drawn some reserves of horse from that 
quarter; and he had a brigade of Hussars under Vivian 
fresh and ready at hand. Without a moment's hesitation he 
launched these against the cavalry near La Belle Alliance. 
The charge was as successful as it was daring ; and, as 
there was now no hostile cavalry to check the British infan- 
try in a forward movement, the duke gave the long-wished- 
for command for a general advance of the army along the 
whole line upon the foe. It was now past eight o'clock, and 
for nearly nine deadly hours had the British and German 
regiments stood unflinching under the fire of artillery, the 
charge of cavalry, and every variety of assault which the 
compact columns or the scattered tirailleurs of the enemy's 
infantry could inflict. As they joyously sprang forward 
against the discomfited masses of the French, the setting sun 
broke through the clouds which had obscured the sky during 
the greater part of the day, and glittered on the bayonets 
of the Allies while they poured down into the valley and 
towards the heights that were held by the foe. The duke 
himself was among the foremost in the advance, and person- 
ally directed the movements against each body of the French 
that essayed resistance. He rode in front of Adams's bri- 
gade, cheering it forward, and even galloped among the most 
advanced of the British skirmishers, speaking joyously to the 
men and receiving their hearty shouts of congratulation. 
The bullets of both friends and foes were whistling fast 



i8is] BATTLE OF WATERLOO 41 1 

around him ; and one of the few survivors of his staff remon- 
strated with him for thus exposing a life of such value. 
"Never mind," was the duke's answer — "never mind, let 
them fire away ; the battle's won, and my life is of no conse- 
quence now." And, indeed, almost the whole of the French 
host were now in irreparable confusion. The Prussian army 
was coming more and more rapidly forward on their right ; 
and the Young Guard, which had held Planchenoit so bravely, 
was at last compelled to give way. Some regiments of the 
Old Guard in vain endeavored to form in squares and stem 
the current. They were swept away and wrecked among 
the waves of the flyers. Napoleon had placed himself in 
one of these squares : Marshal Soult, Generals Bertrand, 
Drouot, Corbineau, De Flahaut, and Gourgaud were with 
him. The emperor spoke of dying on the field, but Soult 
seized his bridle and turned his charger round, exclaiming, 
" Sire, are not the enemy already lucky enough .-" " With the 
greatest difficulty, and only by the utmost exertion of the 
devoted officers round him. Napoleon cleared the throng of 
fugitives and escaped from the scene of the battle and the 
war, which he and France had lost past all recovery. Mean- 
while the Duke of Wellington still rode forward with the van 
of his victorious troops, until he reined up on the elevated 
ground near Rossomme. The daylight was now entirely 
gone ; but the young moon had risen, and the light which 
it cast, aided by the glare from the burning houses and other 
buildings in the line of the flying French and pursuing Prus- 
sians, enabled the duke to assure himself that his victory was 
complete. He then rode back along the Charleroi road 
towards Waterloo ; and near La Belle Alliance he met Mar- 
shal Blucher. Warm were the congratulations that were 
exchanged between the allied chiefs. It was arranged that 
the Prussians should follow up the pursuit and give the 
French no chance of rallying. Accordingly the British army, 
exhausted by its toils and sufferings during that dreadful 
day, did not advance beyond the heights which the enemy 
had occupied. But the Prussians drove the fugitives before 
them in merciless chase throughout the night. Cannon, bag- 
gage, and all the materiel of the army were abandoned by 
the French ; and many thousands of the infantry threw away 



412 DECISIVE BATTLES [1815 

their arms to facilitate their escape. The ground was strewn 
for miles with the wrecks of their host. There was no rear- 
guard ; nor was even the semblance of order attempted. An 
attempt at resistance was made at the bridge and village of 
Genappe, the first narrow pass through which the bulk of 
the French retired. The situation was favorable ; and a few 
resolute battalions, if ably commanded, might have held their 
pursuers at bay there for some considerable time. But despair 
and panic were now universal in the beaten army. At the 
first sound of the Prussian drums and bugles, Genappe was 
abandoned and nothing thought of but headlong flight. The 
Prussians, under General Gneisenau, still followed and still 
slew ; nor even when the Prussian infantry stopped in sheer 
exhaustion, was the pursuit given up. Gneisenau still pushed 
on with the cavalry ; and by an ingenious stratagem made 
the French believe that his infantry were still close on them, 
and scared them from every spot where they attempted to 
pause and rest. He mounted one of his drummers on a horse 
which had been taken from the captured carriage of Napo- 
leon, and made him ride along with the pursuing cavalry and 
beat the drum whenever they came on any large number of 
the French. The French thus fled, and the Prussians pur- 
sued, through Quatre Bras and even over the heights of 
Frasne ; and when at length Gneisenau drew bridle, and 
halted a little beyond Frasne with the scanty remnant of 
keen hunters who had kept up the chase with him to the 
last, the French were scattered through Gosselies, Mar- 
chiennes, and Charleroi, and were striving to regain the left 
bank of the river Sambre, which they had crossed in such 
pomp and pride not a hundred hours before. 

Part of the French left wing endeavored to escape from 
the field without blending with the main body of the fugitives 
who thronged the Genappe causeway. A French officer who 
was among those who thus retreated across the country west- 
ward of the highroad has vividly described what he wit- 
nessed and what he suffered. Colonel Lemonnier-Delafosse 
served in the campaign of 181 5 in General Foy's staff, and 
was consequently in that part of the French army at Water- 
loo which acted against Hougoumont and the British right 
wing. When the column of the Imperial Guard made their 



i8i5] BATTLE OF WATERLOO 413 

great charge at the end of the day, the troops of Foy's 
division advanced in support of them, and Colonel Lemon- 
nier-Delafosse describes the confident hopes of victory and 
promotion with which he marched to that attack, and the 
fearful carnage and confusion of the assailants, amid which 
he was helplessly hurried back by his flying comrades. He 
then narrates the closing scene : — 

" Near one of the hedges of Hougoumont farm, without 
even a drummer to beat the rappel, we succeeded in rallying 
under the enemy's fire 300 men : they were nearly all that 
remained of our splendid division. Thither came together a 
band of generals. There was Reille, whose horse had been 
shot under him ; there were d'Erlon, Bachelu, Foy, Jamin, 
and others. All were gloomy and sorrowful, like vanquished 
men. Their words were, — ' Here is all that is left of my 
corps, of my division, of my brigade : I, myself.' We had 
seen the fall of Duhesme, of Pelet-de-Morvan, of Michel — 
generals who had found a glorious death. My general, Foy, 
had his shoulder pierced through by a musket-ball ; and out 
of his whole staff two officers only were left to him, Cahour 
Duhay and I. Fate had spared me in the midst of so many 
dangers, though the first charger I rode had been shot and 
had fallen on me. 

" The enemy's horse were coming down on us, and our lit- 
tle group was obliged to retreat. What had happened to our 
division of the left wing had taken place all along the line. 
The movement of the hostile cavalry, which inundated the 
whole plain, had demoralized our soldiers, who, seeing all 
regular retreat of the army cut off, strove each man to effect 
one for himself. At each instant the road became more 
encumbered. Infantry, cavalry, and artillery were pressing 
along pell-mell : jammed together like a solid mass. Figure 
to yourself 40,000 men struggling and thrusting themselves 
along a single causeway. We could not take that way without 
destruction ; so the generals who had collected together near 
the Hougoumont hedge dispersed across the fields. General 
Foy alone remained with the 300 men whom he had gleaned 
from the field of battle, and marched at their head. Our 
anxiety was to withdraw from the scene of action without 
being confounded with the fugitives. Our general wished to 



414 DECISIVE BATTLES [1815 

retreat like a true soldier. Seeing three lights in the southern 
horizon, like beacons, General Foy asked me what I thought 
of the position of each. I answered, ' The first to the left is 
Genappe ; the second is at Bois de Bossu, near the farm of 
Quatre Bras; the third is at Gosselies.' 'Let us march on 
the second one, then,' replied Foy, ' and let no obstacle stop 
us — take the head of the column, and do not lose sight of the 
guiding light.' Such was his order, and I strove to obey. 

" After all the agitation and the incessant din of a long day 
of battle, how imposing was the stillness of that night ! We 
proceeded on our sad and lonely march. We were a prey to 
the most cruel reflections ; we were humiliated, we were hope- 
less ; but not a word of complaint was heard. We walked 
silently as a troop of mourners and it might have been said 
that we were attending the funeral of our country's glory. 
Suddenly the stillness was broken by a challenge, — ' Qtii 
vive f ' ' France ! ' ' Kellermann ! ' * Foy ! ' ' Is it you, gen- 
eral.'' come nearer to us.' At that moment we were passing 
over a little hillock, at the foot of which was a hut, in which 
Kellermann and some of his officers had halted. They came 
out to join us. Foy said to me, ' Kellermann knows the coun- 
try : he has been along here before with his cavalry ; we had 
better follow him.' But we found that the direction which 
Kellermann chose was towards the first light, towards Genappe. 
That led to the causeway which our general rightly wished 
to avoid. I went to the left to reconnoiter, and was soon con- 
vinced that such was the case. It was then that I was able 
to form a full idea of the disorder of a routed army. What a 
hideous spectacle ! The mountain torrent, that uproots and 
whirls along with it every momentary obstacle, is a feeble 
image of that heap of men, of horses, of equipages, rushing one 
upon another ; gathering before the least obstacle which dams 
up their way for a few seconds, only to form a mass which 
overthrows everything in the path which it forces for itself. 
Wo to him whose footing failed him in that deluge! He 
was crushed, trampled to death ! I returned and told my 
general what I had seen, and he instantly abandoned Keller- 
mann and resumed his original line of march. 

" Keeping straight across the country over fields and the 
rough thickets, we at last arrived at the Bois de Bossu, where 



i8i5] BATTLE OF WATERLOO 415 

we halted. My general said to me : ' Go to the farm of Quatre 
Bras and announce that we are here. The emperor or Soult 
must be there. Ask for orders, and recollect that I am waiting 
here for you. The lives of these men depend on your exact- 
ness.' To reach the farm I was obliged to cross the high- 
road : I was on horseback, but nevertheless was borne away by 
the crowd that fled along the road, and it was long ere I could 
extricate myself and reach the farmhouse. General Lobau 
was there with his staff, resting in fancied security. They 
thought that their troops had halted there ; but, though a halt 
had been attempted, the men had soon fled forward, like their 
comrades of the rest of the army. The shots of the approach- 
ing Prussians were now heard ; and I believe that General 
Lobau was taken prisoner in that farmhouse. I left him to 
rejoin my general, which I did with difficulty. I found him 
alone. His men, as they came near the current of flight, were 
infected with the general panic and fled also. 

" What was to be done .-• Follow that crowd of runaways .-' 
General Foy would not hear of it. There were five of us still 
with him, all officers. He had been wounded at about five in 
the afternoon, and the wound had not been dressed. He suf- 
fered severely ; but his moral courage was unbroken. ' Let 
us keep,' he said, * a line parallel to the highroad, and work 
our way hence as we best can.' A foot track was before us, 
and we followed it. 

" The moon shone out brightly, and revealed the full 
wretchedness of the tableau which met our eyes. A brigadier 
and four cavalry soldiers, whom we met with, formed our 
escort. We marched on ; and, as the noise grew more distant, 
I thought that we were losing the parallel of the highway. 
Finding that we had the moon more and more on the left, I 
felt sure of this, and mentioned it to the general. Absorbed 
in thought, he made me no reply. We came in front of a 
windmill, and endeavored to procure some information ; but 
we could not gain an entrance or make any one answer, and 
we continued our nocturnal march. At last we entered a vil- 
lage, but found every door closed against us, and were obliged 
to use threats in order to gain admission into a single house. 
The poor woman to whom it belonged, more dead than alive, 
received us as if we had been enemies. Before asking where 



4l6 DECISIVE BATTLES [1815 

we were, ' Food, give us some food ! ' was our cry. Bread 
and butter and beer were brought, and soon disappeared 
before men who had fasted for twenty-four hours. A little 
revived, we asked, ' Where are we .'* what is the name of this 
village ?' — ' Vieville.' 

" On looking at the map, I saw that in coming to that vil- 
lage we had leaned too much to the right, and that we were 
in the direction of Mons. In order to reach the Sambre at 
the bridge of Marchiennes, we had four leagues to traverse ; 
and there was scarcely time to march the distance before day- 
break. I made a villager act as our guide, and bound him by 
his arm to my stirrup. He led us through Roux to Mar- 
chiennes. The poor fellow ran alongside of my horse the 
whole way. It was cruel but necessary to compel him, for 
we had not an instant to spare. At six in the morning we 
entered Marchiennes. 

" Marshal Ney was there. Our general went to see him, 
and to ask what orders he had to give. Ney was asleep ; and, 
rather than rob him of the first repose he had had for four 
days, our general returned to us without seeing him. And, 
indeed, what orders could Marshal Ney have given ? The 
whole army was crossing the Sambre, each man where and 
how he chose; some at Charleroi, some at Marchiennes. We 
were about to do the same thing. When once beyond the 
Sambre, we might safely halt; and both men and horses were 
in extreme need of rest. We passed through Thuin ; and find- 
ing a little copse near the road, we gladly sought its shelter. 
While our horses grazed, we lay down and slept. How sweet 
was that sleep after the fatigues of the long day of battle, and 
after the night of retreat more painful still ! We rested in 
the little copse till noon, and sat there watching the wrecks 
of our army defile along the road before us. It was a soul- 
harrowing sight ! Yet the different arms of the service had 
resumed a certain degree of order amid their disorder ; and 
our general, feeling his strength revive, resolved to follow a 
strong column of cavalry which was taking the direction of 
Beaumont, about four leagues off. We drew near Beaumont, 
when suddenly a regiment of horse was seen debouching from 
a wood on our left. The column that we followed shouted out, 
' The Prussians ! the Prussians ! ' and galloped off in utter dis- 



i8i5] BATTLE OF WATERLOO 41/ 

order. The troops that thus alarmed them were not a tenth 
part of their number, and were in reality our own 8th Hussars, 
who wore green uniforms. But the panic had been brought 
even thus far from the battle-field, and the disorganized col- 
umn galloped into Beaumont, which was already crowded 
with our infantry. We were obliged to follow that d^bdcle. 
On entering Beaumont we chose a house of superior appear- 
ance, and demanded of the mistress of it refreshments for the 
general. * Alas ! ' said the lady, 'this is the tenth general who 
has been to this house since this morning. I have nothing 
left. Search, if you please, and see.' Though unable to find 
food for the general, I persuaded him to take his coat off and 
let me examine his v/ound. The bullet had gone through the 
twists of the left epaulette, and, penetrating the skin, had run 
round the shoulder without injuring the bone. The lady of 
the house made some lint for me; and without any great degree 
of surgical skill I succeeded in dressing the wound. 

" Being still anxious to procure some food for the general 
and ourselves, if it were but a loaf of ammunition bread, I 
left the house and rode out into the town. I saw pillage 
going on in every direction : open caissons, stripped and half 
broken, blocked up the streets. The pavement was covered 
with plundered and torn baggage. Pillagers and runaways, 
such were all the comrades I met with. Disgusted at them, 
I strove, sword in hand, to stop one of the plunderers ; but, 
more active than I, he gave me a bayonet stab in my left arm, 
in which I fortunately caught his thrust, which had been aimed 
full at my body. He disappeared among the crowd, through 
which I could not force my horse. My spirit of discipline 
had made me forget that in such circumstances the soldier is 
a mere wild beast. But to be wounded by a fellow country- 
man after having passed unharmed through all the perils of 
Quatre Bras and Waterloo ! — this did seem hard, indeed. I 
was trying to return to General Foy, when another horde of 
flyers burst into Beaumont, swept me into the current of their 
flight, and hurried me out of the town with them. Until I 
received my wound I had preserved my moral courage in 
full force; but now, worn out with fatigue, covered with 
blood, and suffering severe pain from the wound, I own that 
I gave way to the general demoralization and let myself 



/ 



4l8 DECISIVE BATTLES [1815 

be inertly borne along with the rushing mass. At last I 
reached Landrecies, though I know not how or when. But I 
found there our Colonel Hurday, who had been left behind 
there in consequence of an accidental injury from a carriage. 
He took me with him to Paris, where I retired amid my 
family and got cured of my wound, knowing nothing of the 
rest of political and military events that were taking place." 

No returns ever were made of the amount of the French 
loss in the battle of Waterloo ; but it must have been immense, 
and may be partially judged of by the amount of killed and 
wounded in the armies of the conquerors. On this subject 
both the Prussian and British official evidence is unquestion- 
ably full and authentic. The figures are terribly emphatic. 

Of the army that fought under the Duke of Wellington 
nearly 1 5,000 men were killed and wounded on this single day of 
battle. Seven thousand Prussians also fell at Waterloo. At 
such a fearful price was the deliverance of Europe purchased. 

By none was the severity of that loss more keenly felt than 
by our great deliverer himself. As may be seen in Major 
Macready's narrative, the duke, while the battle was raging, 
betrayed no sign of emotion at the most ghastly casualties ; 
but, when all was over, the sight of the carnage with which 
the field was covered, and, still more, the sickening spectacle 
of the agonies of the wounded men who lay moaning in their 
misery by thousands and tens of thousands, weighed heavily 
on the spirit of the victor, as he rode back across the scene of 
strife. On reaching his headquarters in the village of Water- 
loo, the duke inquired anxiously after the numerous friends 
who had been round him in the morning, and to whom he 
was warmly attached. Many, he was told, were dead ; others 
were lying alive, but mangled and suffering, in the houses 
round him. It is in our hero's own words alone that his 
feelings can be adequately told. In a letter written by him 
almost immediately after his return from the field, he thus 
expressed himself : " My heart is broken by the terrible loss 
I have sustained in my old friends and companions and my 
poor soldiers. Believe me, nothing except a battle lost can 
be half so melancholy as a battle won. The bravery of my 
troops has hitherto saved me from the greater evil ; but to 
win such a battle as this of Waterloo, at the expense of so 



i8i5] BATTLE OF WATERLOO 419 

many gallant friends, could only be termed a heavy misfortune 
but for the result to the public." 

It is not often that a successful general in modern warfare 
is called on, like the victorious commander of the ancient 
Greek armies, to award a prize of superior valor to one of his 
soldiers. Such was to some extent the case with respect to the 
battle of Waterloo. In the August of 18 18, an English clergy- 
man offered to confer a small annuity on some Waterloo soldier, 
to be named by the duke. The duke requested Sir John 
Byng to choose a man from the second brigade of Guards, 
which had so highly distinguished itself in the defense of 
Hougoumont. There were many gallant candidates, but the 
election fell on Sergeant James Graham, of the light company 
of the Coldstreams. This brave man had signalized himself 
throughout the day in the defense of that important post, 
and especially in the critical struggle that took place at the 
period when the French, who had gained the wood, the 
orchard, and detached garden, succeeded in bursting open a 
gate of the courtyard of the chateau itself, and rushed in in 
large masses, confident of carrying all before them. A hand- 
to-hand fight, of the most desperate character, was kept up 
between them and the Guards for a few minutes ; but at last 
the British bayonets prevailed. Nearly all the Frenchmen 
who had forced their way in were killed on the spot ; and, as 
the few survivors ran back, five of the Guards, Colonel Mac- 
donnell. Captain Wyndham, Ensign Gooch, Ensign Hervey, 
and Sergeant Graham, by sheer strength, closed the gate 
again, in spite of the efforts of the French from without, and 
effectually barricaded it against further assaults. Over and 
through the loopholed wall of the courtyard the English 
garrison now kept up a deadly fire of musketry, which was 
fiercely answered by the French, who swarmed round the 
curtilage like ravening wolves. Shells, too, from their bat- 
teries were falling fast into the besieged place, one of which 
set part of the mansion and some of the outbuildings on fire. 
Graham, who was at this time standing near Colonel Mac- 
donnell at the wall, and who had shown the most perfect 
steadiness and courage, now asked permission of his com- 
manding officer to retire for a moment. Macdonnell replied, 
" By all means, Graham ; but I wonder you should ask leave 



420 DECISIVE BATTLES [1815 

now." Graham answered, " I would not, sir, only my brother 
is wounded, and he is in that outbuilding there, which has just 
caught fire." Laying down his musket, Graham ran to the 
blazing spot, lifted up his brother, and laid him in a ditch. 
Then he was back at his post, and was plying his musket 
against the French again before his absence was noticed, 
except by his colonel. 

Many anecdotes of individual prowess have been preserved ; 
but of all the brave men who were in the British army on that 
eventful day, none deserves more honor for courage and indom- 
itable resolution than Sir Thomas Picton, who, as has been 
mentioned, fell in repulsing the great attack of the French 
upon the British left center. It was not until the dead body 
was examined after the battle that the full heroism of Picton 
was discerned. He had been wounded on the i6th, at Quatre 
Bras, by a musket-ball, which had broken two of his ribs and 
caused also severe internal injuries ; but he had concealed the 
circumstance, evidently in expectation that another and greater 
battle would be fought in a short time, and desirous to avoid 
being solicited to absent himself from the field. His body was 
blackened and swollen by the wound, which must have caused 
severe and incessant pain ; and it was marvelous how his 
spirit had borne him up, and enabled him to take part in the 
fatigues and duties of the field. The bullet which, on the 
i8th, killed the renowned leader of "the fighting division " of 
the Peninsula entered the head near the left temple, and passed 
through the brain ; so that Picton's death must have been 
instantaneous. 

One of the most interesting narratives of personal adven- 
ture at Waterloo is that of Colonel Frederick Ponsonby, of 
the 1 2th Light Dragoons, who was severely wounded when 
Vandeleur's brigade, to which he belonged, attacked the 
French lancers, in order to bring off the Union Brigade, 
which was retiring from its memorable charge. The 12th, 
like those whom they rescued, advanced much farther against 
the French position than prudence warranted. Ponsonby, 
with many others, was speared by a reserve of Polish lancers, 
and left for dead on the field. It is well to refer to the de- 
scription of what he suffered (as he afterwards gave it, when 
almost miraculously recovered from his numerous wounds), 



i8i5] BATTLE OF WATERLOO 421 

because his fate, or worse, was the fate of thousands more ; 
and because the narrative of the pangs of an individual, with 
whom we can indentify ourselves, always comes more home 
to us than a general description of the miseries of whole 
masses. His tale may make us remember what are the hor- 
rors of war as well as its glories. It is to be remembered that 
the operations which he refers to took place about three 
o'clock in the day, and that the fighting went on for at least 
five hours more. After describing how he and his men charged 
through the French whom they first encountered, and went 
against other enemies, he states : — 

" We had no sooner passed them than we were ourselves 
attacked, before we could form, by about 300 Polish lancers, 
who had hastened to their relief, the French artillery pour- 
ing in among us a heavy fire of grape, though for one of our 
men they killed three of their own. 

" In the melee I was almost instantly disabled in both arms, 
losing first my sword, and then my reins ; and followed by a few 
men, who were presently cut down, no quarter being allowed, 
asked, or given, I was carried along by my horse, till, receiving a 
blow from a saber, I fell senseless on my face to the ground. 

" Recovering, I raised myself a little to look round, being at 
that time, I believe, in a condition to get up and run away ; 
when a lancer, passing by, cried out, 'Tu n'est pas mort, 
coquin ! ' and struck his lance through my back. My head 
dropped, the blood gushed into my mouth, a difficulty of 
breathing came on, and I thought all was over. 

" Not long afterwards (it was impossible to measure time, 
but I must have fallen in less than ten minutes after the on- 
set) a tirailleur stopped to plunder me, threatening my life. 
I directed him to a small side pocket, in which he found three 
dollars, all I had ; but he continued to threaten, and I said 
he might search me : this he did immediately, unloosing my 
stock and tearing open my waistcoat, and leaving me in a very 
uneasy posture. 

" But he was no sooner gone than an officer bringing up 
some troops, to which probably the tirailleur belonged, and 
happening to halt where I lay, stooped down and addressed 
me, saying he feared I was badly wounded ; I said that I was, 
and expressed a wish to be removed to the rear. He said it 



422 DECISIVE BATTLES [1815 

was against their orders to remove even their own men ; but 
that if they gained the day (and he understood that the Duke 
of WelHngton was killed, and that some of our battalions had 
surrendered), every attention in his power would be shown 
me. I complained of thirst, and he held his brandy-bottle to 
my lips, directing one of the soldiers to lay me straight on my 
side and place a knapsack under my head. He then passed 
on into action — soon, perhaps, to want, though not receive, 
the same assistance ; and I shall never know to whose gener- 
osity I was indebted, as I beheve, for my life. Of what rank 
he was, I cannot say : he wore a great-coat. By and by 
another tirailleur came up, a fine young man, full of ardor. 
He knelt down and fired over me, loading and firing many 
times, and conversing with me all the while." The French- 
man, with strange coolness, informed Ponsonby of how he 
was shooting, and what he thought of the progress of the 
battle. " At last he ran off, exclaiming, ' You will probably 
not be sorry to hear that we are going to retreat. Good day, 
my friend.' It was dusk," Ponsonby adds, "when two squad- 
rons of Prussian cavalry, each of them two deep, came across 
the valley and passed over me in full trot, lifting me from the 
ground and tumbling me about cruelly. The clatter of their 
approach, and the apprehensions they excited, may be imag- 
ined ; a gun taking that direction must have destroyed me. 

" The battle was now at an end, or removed to a distance. 
The shouts, the imprecations, the outcries of 'Vive I'Empe- 
reur ! ' the discharge of musketry and cannon, were over ; and 
the groans of the wounded all around me became every moment 
more and more audible. I thought the night would never end. 

" Much about this time I found a soldier of the Royals lying 
across my legs — he had probably crawled thither in his agony ; 
and his weight, his convulsive motions, and the air issuing 
through a wound in his side, distressed me greatly ; the last 
circumstance most of all, as I had a wound of the same na- 
ture myself. 

" It was not a dark night, and the Prussians were wander- 
ing about to plunder ; the scene in ' Ferdinand Count Fathom ' 
came into my mind, though no women appeared. Several 
stragglers looked at me, as they passed by, one after another, 
and at last one of them stopped to examine me. I told him 



i8i5] BATTLE OF WATERLOO 423 

as well as I could, for I spoke German very imperfectly, that 
I was a British officer, and had been plundered already ; he 
did not desist, however, and pulled me about roughly. 

" An hour before midnight I saw a man in an English uni- 
form walking towards me. He was, I suspect, on the same 
errand, and he came and looked in my face. I spoke instantly, 
telling him who I was, and assuring him of a reward if he 
would remain by me. He said he belonged to the 40th, and 
had missed his regiment ; he released me from the dying sol- 
dier, and, being unarmed, took up a sword from the ground 
and stood over me, pacing backward and forward. 

" Day broke ; and at six o'clock in the morning some Eng- 
lish were seen at a distance, and he ran to them. A messen- 
ger being sent off to Hervey, a cart came for me, and I was 
placed in it, and carried to the village of Waterloo, a mile and 
a half off, and laid in the bed from which, as I understood 
afterwards, Gordon had been just carried out. I had received 
seven wounds ; a surgeon slept in my room, and I was saved 
by excessive bleeding." 

Major Macready, in the journal already cited, justly praises 
the deep devotion to their emperor which marked the French 
at Waterloo. Never, indeed, had the national bravery of the 
French people been more nobly shown. One soldier in the 
French ranks was seen, when his arm was shattered by a 
cannon-ball, to wrench it off with the other ; and, throwing it 
up in the air, he exclaimed to his comrades, "Vive I'Empereur 
jusqu'a la mort ! " Colonel Lemonnier-Delafosse mentions 
in his " Memoires " that, at the beginning of the action, a 
French soldier who had had both legs carried off by a cannon- 
ball was borne past the front of Foy's division, and called out 
to them, "Ce n'est rien, camarades ! Vive I'Empereur! 
Gloire a la France ! " The same officer, at the end of the 
battle, when all hope was lost, tells us that he saw a French 
grenadier, blackened with powder and with his clothes torn 
and stained, leaning on his musket and immovable as a statue. 
The colonel called to him to join his comrades and retreat; 
but the grenadier showed him his musket and his hands 
and said, " These hands have with this musket used to-day 
more than twenty packets of cartridges : it was more than 
my share. I supplied myself with ammunition from the dead. 



424 DECISIVE BATTLES [1815 

Leave me to die here on the field of battle. It is not courage 
that fails me, but strength." Then, as Colonel Delafosse left 
him, the soldier stretched himself on the ground to meet his 
fate, exclaiming, "Tout est perdu! pauvre France!" The 
gallantry of the French officers at least equaled that of their 
men. Ney, in particular, set the example of the most daring 
courage. Here, as in every French army in which he ever 
served or commanded, he was " le brave des braves." Through- 
out the day he was in the front of the battle, and was one of 
the very last Frenchmen who quitted the field. His horse 
was killed under him in the last attack made on the English 
position ; but he was seen on foot, his clothes torn with bullets, 
his face smirched with powder, striving, sword in hand, first 
to urge his men forward, and at last to check their flight. 

There was another brave general of the French army, 
whose valor and good conduct on that day of disaster to his 
nation should never be unnoticed when the story of Waterloo 
is recounted. This was General Pelet, who, about seven in 
the evening, led the first battalion of the 2d regiment of the 
Chasseurs of the Guard to the defense of Planchenoit, and 
on whom Napoleon personally urged the deep importance of 
maintaining possession of that village. Pelet and his men took 
their post in the central part of the village, and occupied the 
church and churchyard in great strength. There they re- 
pelled every assault of the Prussians, who in rapidly increas- 
ing numbers rushed forward with infuriated pertinacity. 
They held their post till the utter rout of the main army of 
their comrades was apparent and the victorious Allies were 
thronging around Planchenoit. Then Pelet and his brave 
Chasseurs quitted the churchyard and retired with steady 
march, though they suffered fearfully from the moment they 
left their shelter, and Prussian cavalry as well as infantry 
dashed fiercely after them. Pelet kept together a little knot 
of 250 veterans, and had the eagle covered over and borne 
along in the midst of them. At one time the inequality of 
the ground caused his ranks to open a little, and in an in- 
stant the Prussian horsemen were on them and striving to 
capture the eagle. Captain Siborne relates the conduct of 
Pelet with the admiration worthy of one brave soldier for 
another : — 



i8i5] BATTLE OF WATERLOO 425 

" Pelet, taking advantage of a spot of ground which afforded 
them some degree of cover against the fire of grape by which 
they were constantly assailed, halted the standard-bearer, and 
called out, * A moi. Chasseurs ! Sauvons I'aigle, ou mourons 
autour d'elle ! ' The Chasseurs immediately pressed around 
him, forming what is usually termed the rallying square, and, 
lowering their bayonets, succeeded in repulsing the charge of 
cavalry. Some guns were then brought to bear upon them, 
and subsequently a brisk fire of musketry ; but notwithstand- 
ing the awful sacrifice which was thus offered up in defense 
of their precious charge, they succeeded in reaching the main 
line of retreat, favored by the universal confusion, as also by 
the general obscurity which now prevailed, and thus saved 
alike the eagle and the honor of the regiment." 

French writers do injustice to their own army and general 
when they revive malignant calumnies against Wellington and 
speak of his having blundered into victory. No blunderer could 
have successfully encountered such troops as those of Napo- 
leon and under such a leader. It is superfluous to cite against 
these cavils the testimony which other Continental critics have 
borne to the high military genius of our illustrious chief. I 
refer to one only, which is of peculiar value on account of the 
quarter whence it comes. It is that of the great German 
writer Niebuhr, whose accurate acquaintance with every 
important scene of modern as well as ancient history was 
unparalleled, and who was no mere pedant, but a man practi- 
cally versed in active life, and had been personally acquainted 
with most of the leading men in the great events of the early 
part of this century, Niebuhr, in the passage which I allude 
to, after referring to the military "blunders" of Mithridates, 
Frederick the Great, Napoleon, Pyrrhus, and Hannibal, uses 
these remarkable words : " The Duke of Wellington is, I be- 
lieve, the only general in whose conduct of war we cannot dis- 
cover any important mistake." Not that it is to be supposed 
that the duke's merits were simply of a negative order, or 
that he was merely a cautious, phlegmatic general, fit only for 
defensive warfare, as some recent French historians have de- 
scribed him. On the contrary, he was bold even to audacity 
when boldness was required. " The intrepid advance and 
fight at Assaye, the crossing of the Douro, and the movement 



426 DECISIVE BATTLES [1815 

on Talavera in 1809, the advance to Madrid and Burgos in 
1812, the action before Bayonne in 1813, and the desperate 
stand made at Waterloo itself, when more tamely prudent 
generals would have retreated beyond Brussels, place this 
beyond a doubt." 

The overthrow of the French military power at Waterloo 
was so complete that the subsequent events of the brief cam- 
paign have little interest. Lamartine truly says : "This defeat 
left nothing undecided in future events, for victory had given 
judgment. The war began and ended in a single battle." 
Napoleon himself recognized instantly and fully the deadly 
nature of the blow which had been dealt to his empire. In 
his flight from the battle-field he first halted at Charleroi, but 
the approach of the pursuing Prussians drove him thence be- 
fore he had rested there an hour. With difficulty getting 
clear of the wrecks of his own army, he reached Philippeville, 
where he remained a few hours, and sent orders to the French 
generals in the various extremities of France to converge with 
their troops upon Paris. He ordered Soult to collect the fugi- 
tives of his own force and lead them to Laon. He then hur- 
ried forward to Paris, and reached his capital before the news 
of his own defeat. But the stern truth soon transpired. At 
the demand of the Chambers of Peers and Representatives, he 
abandoned the throne by a second and final abdication on the 
22d of June. On the 29th of June he left the neighborhood 
of Paris, and proceeded to Rochefort in the hope of escap- 
ing to America ; but the coast was strictly watched, and on 
the 15th of July the ex-emperor surrendered himself on board 
of the English man-of-war Bcllerophon. 

Meanwhile the allied armies had advanced steadily upon 
Paris, driving before them Grouchy's corps and the scanty 
force which Soult had succeeded in rallying at Laon. Cam- 
bray, Peronne, and other fortresses were speedily captured ; 
and by the 29th of June the invaders were taking their posi- 
tions in front of Paris. The Provisional Government, which 
acted in the French capital after the emperor's abdication, 
opened negotiations with the allied chiefs. Blucher, in his 
quenchless hatred of the French, was eager to reject all pro- 
posals for a suspension of hostilities, and to assault and storm 
the city. But the sager and calmer spirit of Wellington pre- 



i8is] BATTLE OF WATERLOO 427 

vailed over his colleague ; the entreated armistice was granted ; 
and on the 3d of July the capitulation of Paris terminated the 
war of the battle of Waterloo. 



In closing our observations on this the last of the Decisive 
Battles of the World, it is pleasing to contrast the year which 
it signalized with the year that is now ^'^ passing over our 
heads. We have not (and long may we be without !) the stern 
excitement of martial strife, and we see no captive standards 
of our European neighbors brought in triumph to our shrines. 
But we behold an infinitely prouder spectacle. We see the 
banners of every civilized nation waving over the arena of 
our competition with each other, in the arts that minister to 
our race's support and happiness, and not to its suffering and 
destruction. 

" Peace hath her victories 
No less renowned than war " ; 

and no battle-field ever witnessed a victory more noble than 
that which England, under her sovereign lady and her royal 
prince, is now teaching the peoples of the earth to achieve 
over selfish prejudices and international feuds, in the great 
cause of the general promotion of the industry and welfare 
of mankind. 

Notes 

^ Wellington had but a small part of his old peninsular army in Belgium. 
The flower of it had been sent on the expeditions against America. His 
troops, in 181 5, were chiefly second battalions, or regiments lately filled up 
with new recruits. 

- The fifth corps was under Count Rapp at Strasburg. 

3 Not to be confounded with the hamlet of La Haye at the extreme left 
of the British Hne. 

* Prince Frederick's force remained at Hal, and took no part in the battle 
of the 1 8th. The reason for this arrangement (which has been much 
caviled at) may be best given in the words of Baron Muffling : " The duke 
had retired from Quatre Bras in three columns, by three chaussdes ; and 
on the evening of the 17th, Prince Frederick of Orange was at Hal, Lord 
Hill at Braine I'Alleud, and the Prince of Orange with the reserve at Mont 
St. Jean. This distribution was necessary, as Napoleon could dispose of 
these three roads for his advance on Brussels. Napoleon on the 17th had 
pressed on by Genappe as far as Rossomme. On the two other roads no 



428 DECISIVE BATTLES [1815 

enemy had yet shown himself. On the i8th the offensive was taken by 
Napoleon on its greatest scale, but still the Nivelles road was not over- 
stepped by his left wing. These circumstances made it possible to draw 
Prince Frederick to the army, which would certainly have been done if 
entirely new circumstances had not arisen. The duke had, twenty-four 
hours before, pledged himself to accept a battle at Mont St. Jean if Blucher 
would assist him there with one corps of 25,000 men. This being promised, 
the duke was taking his measures for defense, when he learned that, in addi- 
tion to the one corps promised, Blucher was actually already on the march 
with his whole force, to break in by Planchenoit on Napoleon's flank and 
rear. If three corps of the Prussian army should penetrate by the unguarded 
plateau of Rossomme, which was not itnprobable^ Napoleon would be thrust 
from his line of retreat by Genappe, and might possibly lose even that by 
Nivelles. In this case Prince Frederick, with his 18,000 men (who might 
be accounted superfluous at Mont St. Jean), might have rendered the most 
essential service." See Muffling, p. 246, and the Quarterly Review, No. 178. 
It is also worthy of observation that Napoleon actually detached a force of 
2000 cavalry to threaten Hal, though they returned to the main French 
army during the night of the 17th. 

* See especially Sir W. Napier's glorious pictures of the battles of Busaco 
and Albuera. The theoretical advantages of the attack in column, and its 
peculiar fitness for a French army, are set forth in the Chevalier Folard's 
" Traitd de la Colonne," prefixed to the first volume of his " Polybius." See 
also the preface to his sixth volume. 

^ I have heard the remark made that Grouchy twice had in his hands the 
power of changing the destinies of Europe, and twice wanted nerve to act : 
first, when he flinched from landing the French army at Bantry Bay in 1796 
(he was second in command to Hoche, whose ship was blown back by a 
storm), and, secondly, when he failed to lead his whole force from Wavre 
to the scene of decisive conflict at Waterloo. But such were the arrange- 
ments of the Prussian general that even if Grouchy had marched upon 
Waterloo, he would have been held in check by the nearest Prussian corps, 
or certainly by the two nearest ones, while the rest proceeded to join Well- 
ington. This, however, would have diminished the number of Prussians 
who appeared at Waterloo, and (what is still more important) would have 
kept them back to a later hour. 

There are some very valuable remarks on this subject in an article on 
the " Life of Blucher," usually attributed to Sir Francis Head. The Prussian 
writer. General Clausewitz, is there cited as " expressing a positive opinion, 
in which every military critic but a Frenchman must concur, that, even had 
the whole of Grouchy's force been at Napoleon's disposal, the duke had 
nothing to fear pending Bliicher's arrival. 

" The duke is often talked of as having exhausted his reserves in the 
action. This is another gross error, which Clausewitz has thoroughly dis- 
posed of (p. 125). He enumerates the tenth British brigade, the division 
of Chassd, and the cavalry of Collaert as having been little or not at all 
engaged; and he might have also added two brigades of light cavalry." 
The fact, also, that Wellington did not at any part of the day order up 



i8i5] BATTLE OF WATERLOO 429 

Prince Frederick's corps from Hal is a conclusive proof that the duke was 
not so distressed as some writers have represented. Hal is not ten miles 
from the field of Waterloo. 

■^ " On came the whirlwind — like the last 
But fiercest sweep of tempest blast — 
On came the whirlwind ; steel-gleams broke 
Like lightning through the rolling smoke ; 

The war was waked anew : 
Three hundred cannon-mouths roared loud, 
And from their throats, with flash and cloud, 

Their showers of iron threw. 
Beneath their fire, in full career, 
Rushed on the ponderous cuirassier ; 
The lancer couched his ruthless spear, 
And, hurrying as to havoc near. 

The cohorts' eagles flew. 
In one dark torrent, broad and strong, 
The advancing onset rolled along, 
Forth harbingered by fierce acclaim. 
That, from the shroud of smoke and flame, 
Pealed wildly the imperial name. 

" But on the British heart were lost 
The terrors of the charging host ; 
For not an eye the storm that viewed 
Changed its proud glance of fortitude. 
Nor was one forward footstep stayed, 
As dropped the dying and the dead. 
Fast as their ranks the thunders tear. 
Fast they renewed each serried square ; 
And on the wounded and the slain 
Closed their diminished files again. 
Till from their line, scarce spear's lengths three, 
Emerging from the smoke they see 
Helmet, and plume, and panoply : 

Then waked their fire at once ! 
Each musketeer's revolving knell 
As fast, as regularly fell 
As when they practise to display 
Their discipline on festal day. 

Then down went helm and lance, 
Down were the eagle banners sent, 
Down reeling steeds and riders went. 
Corslets were pierced, and pennons rent ; 

And, to augment the fray, 
Wheeled full against their staggering flanks, 
The English horsemen's foaming ranks 

Forced their resistless wav. 



430 DECISIVE BATTLES [1815 

Then to the musket-knell succeeds 

The clash of swords, the neigh of steeds ; 

As plies the smith his clanging trade, 

Against the cuirass rang the blade ; 

And while amid their close array 

The well-served cannon rent their way, 

And while amid their scattered band 

Raged the fierce rider's bloody brand, 

Recoiled, in common rout and fear, 

Lancer and guard and cuirassier, 

Horsemen and foot — a mingled host, 

Their leaders fall'n, their standards lost." — Scott. 

* "As far as the French accounts would lead us to infer, it appears that 
the losses among Napoleon's staff were comparatively trifling. On this 
subject, perhaps, the marked contrast aiforded by the following anecdotes, 
which have been related to me on excellent authority, may tend to throw 
some light. At one period of the battle, when the duke was surrounded 
by several of his staff, it was very evident that the group had become the 
object of the fire of a French battery. The shot fell fast about them, gen- 
erally striking and turning up the ground on which they stood. Their horses 
became restive, and ' Copenhagen ' himself so fidgety that the duke, getting 
impatient, and having reasons for remaining on the spot, said to those about 
him, 'Gentlemen, we are rather too close together — better to divide a 
little.' Subsequently, at another point of the line, an officer of artillery 
came up to the duke, and stated that he had a distinct view of Napoleon, 
attended by his staff; that he had the guns of his battery well pointed in 
that direction, and was prepared to fire. His Grace instantly and em- 
phatically exclaimed, ' No ! no ! I'll not allow it. It is not the business of 
commanders to be firing upon each other.' " — Siborne. How different is 
this from Napoleon's conduct at the battle of Dresden, when he personally 
directed the fire of the battery, which, as he thought, killed the Emperor 
Alexander, and actually killed Moreau. 

® " Ouvrard, who attended Napoleon as chief commissary of the French 
army on that occasion, told me that Napoleon was suffering from a com- 
plaint which made it very painful for him to ride." — Lord Ellesmere. 

1° Written in June, 1851. 



1863] BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 43 1 



CHAPTER XVI 

The Battle of Gettysburg, 1863 

WHEN the Missouri Compromise was abrogated, 
in 1854, large numbers of people in the Northern 
States of the American Union, who had been 
accustomed to look leniently upon the institution of slavery 
in the Southern States, and were disposed to grant it every 
indulgence in order to preserve the Union and maintain a 
condition of peace, awoke to a sense of its aggressive nature, 
and took a resolution that it should spread no farther. 
Hence the formation of the Republican party, the only prac- 
ticable antislavery organization that the country had known. 
Its distinctive principle was opposition to any spread of 
slavery into the Territories, or the admission of any more 
slave States. It disclaimed any purpose of interfering with 
the institution where it already existed, believing that, if con- 
fined to the territory it then occupied, it would slowly and 
peacefully die out. The slaveholders probably entertained 
the same belief, and, being determined that the institution 
should not die, resolved upon the alternative of secession 
from the Union (which they had long threatened), in case of 
the success of the Republican party. They founded their 
claim of the privilege to do this upon the theory that, in 
entering the Union, no State surrendered its sovereignty, 
but any one was at liberty to withdraw whenever it saw 
fit to do so. Hardly anybody in the Northern States, of 
whatever political affiliations, admitted the soundness of such 
an interpretation of the National Constitution. Not only 
did they point to the history of that instrument, which itself 
declares its purpose to be " to form a more perfect Union," but 
they appealed to the fact that, in surrendering the right to 
coin money, make war, negotiate treaties, and levy customs 
on imports, the States had actually surrendered every attri- 



432 DECISIVE BATTLES [1863 

bute of sovereignty. Behind all the argumentation, and 
more powerful than any possible construction of constitution 
or compromises, stood the fact that the proposed secession, 
according to the testimony of history, was against nature. 
In all parts of the world it had been demonstrated that the 
tendency of civilization was to create union, not secession, 
within natural boundaries. Thus, for instance, the Hep- 
tarchy had become Great Britain ; Normandy, Brittany, Lor- 
raine, Poitou, etc., had become France ; Castile, Aragon, 
Leon, etc., had become Spain ; but France and Spain had 
not united, because the Pyrenees Mountains made a natural 
boundary between them. The cantons of Switzerland had 
united ; Norway and Sweden had formed one kingdom ; 
Italy was on the eve of unification, and Germany was work- 
ing toward it. An American citizen did not have to be a 
very deep thinker to note the fact that between the free 
States and the slave States there was no sufficient natural 
boundary, and that separation meant two standing armies 
and constant danger of war. Hence, when the trial came, 
the Northern people readily accepted the risk and sacrifice of 
immediate and bloody strife, rather than bequeath to their 
descendants a state of continual alarm and militarism like 
that of Europe. 

The pretext for secession was that the election, in i860, 
of Abraham Lincoln, the candidate of the Republican party, 
was a menace to the domestic institutions of the Southern 
States so serious that their only safety lay in a separation 
from the Union. This ignored the fact that when Mr. Lin- 
coln was elected President a majority of the Congressmen 
elected at the same time were politically opposed to him, so 
that, had the Southern members remained in their seats, he 
could have accomplished nothing detrimental to their section, 
had he wanted to ; and it also overlooked the fact that, since 
there was no natural boundary between the free States and 
the slave States, such a separation would only facilitate the 
escape of the slaves from bondage and hasten the natural 
decay of the institution. But it was a case in which temper 
had a louder voice than reason, and ignorance displayed its 
usual assertiveness. From the very differences in the mode 
of life at the South and at the North, the Southerners were 



1863] BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 433 

more contentious in their disposition, and more accustomed 
to the exercise of force, than their fellow citizens of the North ; 
and they had come to consider the Northern population as 
made up principally of plodding mechanics and pusillanimous 
shopkeepers. Athough the census of i860 showed a popula- 
tion of twenty millions in the Northern States and but ten 
millions in the Southern States, they entertained not the 
slightest doubt of their ability to establish their independence 
by a rapid and brilliant exercise of military power. Besides 
accounting every Southern man equal as a soldier to two or 
three Northern men, they expected help from that party in 
the North which had always voted with them, and they were 
confident also that England and France would not long en- 
dure the stoppage of their cotton industries, and would be 
only too glad of an opportunity to assist in the destruction of 
the great Republic. 

South Carolina led the way out of the Union with an ordi- 
nance of secession in December, i860, and the other cotton 
States followed in rapid succession. In February, 1861, they 
formed at Montgomery, Alabama, a new government under 
the name of The Confederate States of America. Its con- 
stitution was a close copy of that of the United States, except 
as to the sections affecting slavery, and it gave no intimation of 
any recognition of State sovereignty or a right of secession. 
Its first acts of war consisted in seizing the forts, arsenals, 
and other United States property within its territory. At 
Charleston and Pensacola it was not able to do this without a 
struggle. Fort Sumter, in Charleston harbor, was held by a 
small garrison of United States troops commanded by Major 
Robert Anderson, who refused to surrender except on com- 
pulsion. Thereupon the Confederates erected batteries at 
every point from which it could be reached by shot, and on 
April 12, 1 86 1, opened fire. After a bombardment of two 
days the fort was surrendered. This action aroused the 
people of both sections, and from that day the avoidance of 
actual war was no longer possible. Both sides raised and 
equipped volunteer armies with remarkable rapidity, and 
illusions of rapid conquest on either side were soon dispelled 
by the discovery that everybody was in earnest, and that the 
rank and file of both armies needed only discipline and experi- 



434 DECISIVE BATTLES [1863 

ence to make them superior, as fighting machines, to any- 
thing that ever had been known. Before the conflict came 
to a close, there were charges and other displays of valor and 
skill that eclipsed anything in the history of European warfare. 

In the West the National forces made comparatively rapid 
progress. Missouri had been prevented from joining in the 
secession movement in 1861, and Kentucky had steadily re- 
fused to do so. The line of defense that the Confederates 
attempted to establish along the boundary of Kentucky and 
Tennessee was swept away early in 1862 by the battles of 
Big Sandy and Mill Spring, and the capture of Forts Henry 
and Donelson. Two months later New Orleans, by far the 
largest city in the Confederacy, was captured by the fleet 
under Farragut, and it remained in the possession of the 
National forces to the end. Somewhat later still, the army 
under Grant went up the Tennessee and captured luka and 
Corinth. These successes opened the back door of the Con- 
federacy, as it was expressed, and made it reasonably certain 
that sooner or later the conquering forces would penetrate to 
the very heart of the country. 

In the East, the progress was slower, for three reasons : 
First, in commanders, the National armies there were less fortu- 
nate, and the Confederate armies more fortunate, than at the 
West. Second, at the West the National armies had only 
to follow the courses of the streams and attack artificial lines 
of defense, while at the East they had to cross the streams 
and attack natural lines of defense. Third, both capitals 
(Washington and Richmond) were at the East, and the first 
anxiety of each Government was to protect its capital. For 
this reason, also, attention, both in the United States and in 
Europe, was directed more to operations in the East. 

The battle of Bull Run (July 21, 1861) was a Confederate 
victory. McClellan's campaign on the peninsula, in May and 
June, 1862, in which he attempted to take Richmond by ap- 
proaching from the east, was a failure, though no one of the 
half dozen battles was a complete Confederate victory. The 
second battle of Bull Run, or Groveton (August 29, 30, 1862), 
was a Confederate victory, and is notable as the only clear vic- 
tory ever achieved by the Army of Northern Virginia when 
acting on the offensive. In the battle of the Antietam (Sep- 



i863] BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 435 

tember 17, 1862) the Confederates were defeated and their first 
serious attempt to invade the North was frustrated. In the bat- 
tle of Fredericksburg (December 13, 1862) the Confederates 
won another victory by simply standing on the defensive in 
an impregnable position which the National commander was 
unwise enough to assail in front. Chancellorsville (May 
2, 3, 1863), might have been a National victory had not the 
commander of the Army of the Potomac been disabled suffi- 
ciently to disconcert all his plans, but not enough to compel 
him to retire from the field. Here again the Confederate 
army was strategically on the defensive, though tactically it 
assumed the offensive for a part of the engagement. 

After this series of victories, public opinion in the South 
began to demand that the army under Lee should invade the 
North, or at least make a bold movement toward Washington. 
Public opinion is not often very discriminating in an exciting 
crisis ; and on this occasion public opinion failed to discrimi- 
nate between the comparative ease with which an army in a 
strong position may repel a faultily planned or badly man- 
aged attack, and the difficulties that must beset the same 
army when it leaves its base, launches forth into the enemy's 
country, and is obliged to maintain a constantly lengthening 
line of communication. The Southern public could not see 
why, since the Army of Northern Virginia had won two vic- 
tories on the Rappahannock, it might not march forward at 
once, lay New York and Philadelphia under contribution, and 
dictate peace and Southern independence in the Capitol at 
Washington. Whether the Confederate Government shared 
this feeling or not, it acted in accordance with it; and whether 
Lee approved it or not, he was obliged to obey. Yet, in the 
largest consideration of the problem, this demand for an inva- 
sion of the North was correct, though the result proved dis- 
astrous. For experience shows that purely defensive warfare 
will not accomplish anything. Lee's army had received a 
heavy reenforcement by the arrival of Longstreet's corps, its 
regiments had been filled up with conscripts, it had unbounded 
confidence in itself, and this was the time, if ever, to put the 
plan for independence to the crucial test of offensive warfare. 
Many subsidiary considerations strengthened the argument. 
About thirty thousand of Hooker's men had been enlisted 



436 DECISIVE BATTLES [1863 

in the spring of 1861, for two years, and their term was now 
expiring. Vicksburg was besieged by Grant, before whom 
nothing had stood as yet; and its fall would open the Missis- 
sippi and cut the Confederacy in two, which might seal the 
fate of the new Government unless the shock were neutral- 
ized by a great victory in the East. Volunteering had fallen 
off in the North, conscription was resorted to, the Democratic 
party there had become more hostile to the Government and 
loudly abusive of President Lincoln and his advisers, and 
there were signs of riotous resistance to a draft. Finally, the 
Confederate agents in Europe reported that anything like a 
great Confederate victory would secure immediate recognition, 
if not armed intervention, from England and France. 

Hooker, who had lost a golden opportunity by his aberra- 
tion or his accident at Chancellorsville, had come to his senses 
again and was alert, active, and clear-headed. As early as 
May 28, 1863, he informed the President that something was 
stirring in the camp on the other side of the river, and that a 
northward movement might be expected. On the 3d of June 
Lee began his movement, and by the 8th two of his three 
corps (those of Ewell and Longstreet) were at Culpeper, 
while A. P. Hill's corps held the lines on the Rappahannock. 

It was known that the entire Confederate cavalry, under 
Stuart, was at Culpeper, and Hooker sent all his cavalry, 
under Pleasonton, with two brigades of infantry, to attack it 
there. The assault was to be made in two converging columns, 
under Buford and Gregg ; but this plan was disconcerted by 
the fact that the enemy's cavalry, intent upon masking the 
movement of the great body of infantry and protecting, its 
flank, had advanced to Brandy Station. Here it was struck 
first by Buford and afterward by Gregg, and there was bloody 
fighting, with the advantage at first in favor of the National 
troops, but the two columns failed to unite during the action, 
and finally withdrew. The loss was somewhat more than 
five hundred men on each side. Each side asserted that it 
had accomplished its object — Pleasonton in ascertaining the 
movements of Lee's army, Stuart in having driven back 
his opponent. Some of the heaviest fighting was for pos- 
session of a height known as Fleetwood Hill, and the Con- 
federates name the action the battle of Fleetwood. It is of 



1863] BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 437 

special interest as marking the turning-point in cavalry service 
during the war. Up to that time the Confederate cavalry- 
had been generally superior to the National ; this action — 
a cavalry fight in the proper sense of the term, between the 
entire mounted forces of the two armies — was a drawn battle ; 
and thenceforth the National cavalry exhibited superiority 
in an accelerating ratio, till finally nothing mounted on South- 
ern horses could stand before the magnificent squadrons led 
by Sheridan, Custer, Kilpatrick, and Wilson. 

Hooker now knew that the movement he had anticipated 
was in progress, and he was very decided in his opinion as to 
what should be done. By the 13th of June, Lee had advanced 
Ewell's corps beyond the Blue Ridge, and it was marching 
down the Shenandoah valley, while Hill's was still in the 
intrenchments on the Rapidan, and Longstreet's was midway 
between, at Culpeper. Hooker asked to be allowed to inter- 
pose his whole army between these widely separated parts of 
its antagonist and defeat them in detail ; but with a man like 
Halleck for military adviser at Washington, it was useless to 
propose any bold or brilliant stroke. Hooker was forbidden 
to do this, and ordered to keep his army between the enemy 
and the capital. He therefore left his position on the Rap- 
pahannock, and moved toward Washington, along the line of 
the Orange and Alexandria Railroad. Ewell moved rapidly 
down the Shenandoah valley, and attacked Winchester, which 
was held by General Milroy with about ten thousand men, 
Milroy made a gallant defense ; but after a stubborn fight his 
force was broken and defeated, and about four thousand of 
them became prisoners. The survivors escaped to Harper's 
Ferry. 

The corps of Hill and Longstreet now moved, Hill follow- 
ing Ewell into the Shenandoah valley, and Longstreet skirting 
the Blue Ridge along its eastern base. Pleasonton's cavalry, 
reconnoitering these movements, met Stuart's again at Aldie, 
near a gap in the Bull Run Mountains, and had a sharp fight; 
and there were also cavalry actions at Middleburg and Upper- 
ville. Other Confederate cavalry had already crossed the 
Potomac, made a raid as far as Chambersburg, and returned 
with supplies to Ewell. On the 22d, Ewell's corps crossed 
at Shepherdstown and Williamsport, and moved up the Cum- 



438 DECISIVE BATTLES [1863 

berland valley to Chambersburg. A panic ensued among the 
inhabitants of that region, who hastened to drive off their cat- 
tle and horses to save them from seizure. The Governors of 
New York and Pennsylvania were called upon for militia, and 
forwarded several regiments to be interposed between the 
enemy's advance and Philadelphia and Harrisburg. The 
other two corps of Lee's army crossed the Potomac on the 
24th and 25th, where Ewell had crossed; and Hooker, moving 
on a line nearer Washington, crossed with his whole army at 
Edward's Ferry on the 25th and 26th, marching thence to 
Frederick. He now proposed to send Slocum's corps to the 
western side of the South Mountain range, have it unite with 
:a force of eleven thousand men under French that lay use- 
less at Harper's Ferry, and throw a powerful column upon 
Lee's communications, capture his trains, and attack his army 
in the rear. But again he came into collision with the stub- 
born Halleck, who would not consent to the abandonment, 
even temporarily, of Harper's Ferry, though the experience 
of the Antietam campaign, when he attempted to hold it in 
the same way and lost its whole garrison, should have taught 
him better. This new cause of trouble, added to previous 
disagreements, was more than Hooker could stand, and on 
the 27th he asked to be relieved from command of the army. 
His request was promptly complied with, and the next morn- 
ing the command was given to General Meade. 

George Gordon Meade, then in his forty-ninth year, was a 
graduate of West Point, had served through the Mexican 
war, had done engineer duty in the survey of the great lakes, 
had been with McClellan on the peninsula, and had com- 
manded a corps in the Army of the Potomac at Antietam, at 
Fredericksburg, and at Chancellorsville. The first thing he 
did on assuming command was partly what Hooker was for- 
bidden to do — he ordered the evacuation of Harper's Ferry, 
and the movement of its garrison to Frederick as a reserve. 

At this time, June 28th, one portion of Lee's army was at 
Chambersburg, or between that place and Gettysburg, another 
at York and Carlisle, and a part of his cavalry was within 
sight of the spires of Harrisburg. The main body of the 
cavalry had gone off on a raid, Stuart having an ambition to 
ride a third time round the Army of the Potomac. This 



1863] BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 439 

absence of his cavalry left Lee in ignorance of the move- 
ments of his adversary, whom he appears to have expected 
to remain quietly on the south side of the Potomac. When 
suddenly he found his communications in danger, he called 
back Ewell from York and Carlisle, and ordered the concen- 
tration of all his forces at Gettysburg. Many converging 
roads lead into that town, and its convenience for such con- 
centration was obvious. Meade was also advancing his army 
toward Gettysburg, though with a more uncertain step — as 
was necessary, since his object was to find Lee's army and 
fight it, wherever it might go. His cavalry, under Pleason- 
ton, was doing good service, and that General advanced a 
division under Buford on the 29th to Gettysburg, with orders 
to delay the enemy till the army could come up. Meade had 
some expectation of bringing on the expected battle at Pipe 
Creek, southeast of Gettysburg, where he marked out a good 
defensive line ; but the First Corps, under General John F. 
Reynolds, advanced rapidly to Gettysburg, and on the ist of 
July encountered west of the town a portion of the enemy 
coming in from Chambersburg. Lee had about seventy- 
three thousand, five hundred men (infantry and artillery), 
and Meade about eighty-two thousand, while the cavalry 
numbered about eleven thousand on each side, and both 
armies had more cannon than they could use.-^ 

When Reynolds advanced his own corps (the First) and 
determined to hold Gettysburg, he ordered the Eleventh 
(Howard's) to come up to its support. The country about 
Gettysburg is broken into ridges, mainly parallel and running 
north and south. On the first ridge west of the village 
stood a theological seminary, which gave it the name of Semi- 
nary Ridge. Between this and the next is a small stream 
called Willoughby Run, and here the first day's battle was 
fought. Buford held the ridges till the infantry arrived, 
climbing into the belfry of the seminary and looking anx- 
iously for their coming. The Confederates were advancing 
by two roads that met in a point at the edge of the village, 
and Reynolds disposed his troops, as fast as they arrived, so 
as to dispute the passage on both roads. The key-point was 
a piece of high ground, partly covered with woods, between 
the roads, and the advance of both sides rushed for it. Here 



440 DECISIVE BATTLES [1863 

General Reynolds, going forward to survey the ground, was 
shot by a sharpshooter and fell dead. He was one of the 
ablest corps commanders that the Army of the Potomac ever 
had. The command devolved upon General Abner Double- 
day. The Confederate force contending for possession of 
the woods was Archer's brigade ; the National was Mere- 
dith's Iron Brigade. Archer's men had been told that they 
would meet nothing but Pennsylvania militia, which they 
expected to brush out of the way with little trouble ; but 
when they saw the Iron Brigade, some of them were heard 

saying : " 'Taint no militia ; there are the black-hatted 

fellows again ; it's the Army of the Potomac ! " The result 
here was that Meredith's men not only secured the woods, 
but captured General Archer and a large part of his brigade, 
and then advanced to the ridge west of the run. 

On the right of the line there had been bloody fighting, 
with unsatisfactory results, owing to the careless posting of 
regiments and a want of concert in action. Two National 
regiments were driven from the field and a gun was lost, 
while on the other hand a Confederate force was driven into 
a railroad cut for shelter, and then subjected to an enfilading 
fire through the cut, so that a large portion was captured 
and the remainder dispersed. 

Whether any commander on either side intended to bring 
on a battle at this point, is doubtful. But both sides were 
rapidly and heavily reenforced, and both fought with deter- 
mination. The struggle for the Chambersburg road was 
obstinate, especially after the Confederates had planted sev- 
eral guns to sweep it. "We have come to stay," said Roy 
Stone's brigade, as they came into line under the fire of these 
guns to support a battery of their own, and " the battle after- 
ward became so severe that the greater portion did stay," says 
General Doubleday. A division of Ewell's corps soon arrived 
from Carlisle, wheeled into position, and struck the right of the 
National line. Robinson's division, resting on Seminary Ridge, 
was promptly brought forward to meet this new peril, and was 
so skilfully handled that it presently captured three North 
Carolina regiments. 

General Oliver O. Howard, being the ranking officer, as- 
sumed command when he arrived on this part of the field ; 



1863] BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 441 

and when his own corps (the Eleventh) came up, about one 
o'clock, he placed it in position on the right, prolonging the 
line of battle far around to the north of the town. This great 
extension made it weak at many points ; and as fresh divi- 
sions of Confederate troops were constantly arriving, under 
Lee's general order to concentrate on the town, they finally 
became powerful enough to break through the center, rolling 
back the right flank of the First Corps and the left of the 
Eleventh, and throwing into confusion everything except the 
left of the First Corps, which retired in good order, protecting 
artillery and ambulances. Of the fugitives that swarmed 
through the town, about five thousand were made prisoners. 
But this had been effected only at heavy cost to the Confed- 
erates. At one point Iverson's Georgia brigade had rushed 
up to a stone fence behind which Baxter's brigade was shel- 
tered, when Baxter's men suddenly rose and delivered a vol- 
ley that struck down five hundred of Iverson's in an instant, 
while the remainder, who were subjected also to a cross- 
fire, immediately surrendered — all but one regiment, which 
escaped by raising a white flag. 

In the midst of the confusion. General Winfield S. Han- 
cock arrived, under orders from General Meade to supersede 
Howard in the command of that wing of the army. He had 
been instructed also to choose a position for the army to 
meet the great shock of battle, if he should find a better one 
than the line of Pipe Creek. Hancock's first duty was to 
rally the fugitives and restore order and confidence. Stein- 
wehr's division was in reserve on Cemetery Ridge, and 
Buford's cavalry was on the plain between the town and the 
ridge ; and with these standing fast he stopped the retreat 
and rapidly formed a line along that crest. 

The ridge begins in Round Top, a high, rocky hill ; next 
north of this is Little Round Top, smaller but still bold and 
rugged; and thence it is continued at a less elevation, with 
gentler slopes, northward within half a mile of the town, 
where it curves around to the east and ends at Rock Creek. 
The whole length is about three miles. Seminary Ridge is a 
mile west of this, and nearly parallel with its central portion. 
Hancock without hesitation chose this line, placed all the 
available troops in position, and then hurried back to head- 



442 DECISIVE BATTLES [1863 

quarters at Taneytown. Meade at once accepted his plan, 
and sent forward the remaining corps. The Third Corps, 
commanded by General Sickles, being already on the march, 
arrived at sunset. The Second (Hancock's) marched thir- 
teen miles and went into position. The Fifth (Sykes's) was 
twenty-three miles away, but marched all night and arrived 
in the morning. The Sixth (Sedgwick's) was thirty-six miles 
away, but was put in motion at once. At the same time Lee 
was urging the various divisions of his army to make the 
concentration as rapidly as possible, not wishing to attack 
the heights till his forces were all up. 

It is said by General Longstreet that Lee had promised his 
corps commanders not to fight a battle during this expedition, 
unless he could take a position and stand on the defensive ; 
but the excitement and confidence of his soldiers, who felt 
themselves invincible, compelled him. While he was waiting 
for his divisions to arrive, forming his lines and perfect- 
ing a plan of attack, Sedgwick's corps arrived on the other 
side, and the National troops were busy constructing rude 
breastworks on some portions of their line. 

Between the two great ridges there is another ridge, situ- 
ated somewhat like the diagonal portion of a capital N. The 
order of the corps, beginning at the right, was this: Slocum's, 
Howard's, Hancock's, Sickles's, with Sykes's in reserve on 
the left and Sedgwick's on the right. Sickles, thinking to 
occupy more advantageous ground, instead of remaining in 
line, advanced to the diagonal ridge, and on this hinged the 
whole battle of the second day. For there was nothing on 
which to rest his left flank, and he was obliged to "refuse" 
it — turn it sharply back toward Round Top. This presented 
a salient angle (always a weak point) to the enemy ; and 
here, when the action opened at four o'clock in the afternoon, 
the blow fell. The angle was at a peach orchard, and the 
refused line stretched back through a wheat-field, General 
Birney's division occupying this ground, while the right of 
Sickles's line was held by Humphreys. 

Longstreet's men attacked the salient vigorously, and his 
extreme right, composed of Hood's division, stretched out 
toward Little Round Top, where it narrowly missed winning 
a position that would have enabled it to enfilade the whole 



1863] BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 443 

National line. Little Round Top had been occupied only by 
signal men, when General Warren saw the danger, detached 
Vincent's brigade from a division that was going out to reen- 
force Sickles, and ordered it to occupy the hill at once. One 
regiment of Weed's brigade (the 140th New York) also went 
up, dragging and lifting the guns of Hazlett's battery up the 
rocky slope ; and the whole brigade soon followed. They 
were just in time to meet the advance of Hood's Texans and 
engage in one of the bloodiest conflicts of the war. At length 
the Texans were hurled back, and the position was secured ; 
but dead or wounded soldiers, in blue and in gray, lay 
everywhere among the rocks. General Weed was mortally 
wounded. General Vincent was killed. Colonel Patrick H. 
O'Rorke, of the 140th, a recent graduate of West Point, of 
brilliant promise, was shot dead at the head of his men, and 
Lieutenant Charles E. Hazlett was killed as he leaned over 
General Weed to catch his last words. " I would rather die 
here," said Weed, "than that the rebels should gain an inch 
of this ground ! " Hood's men made one more attempt, by 
creeping up the ravine between the two Round Tops, but 
were repelled by a bayonet charge, executed by Chamber- 
lain's 20th Maine Regiment, and five hundred of them, with 
seventeen officers, were made prisoners. 

Meanwhile terrific fighting was going on at the salient in 
the peach orchard. Several batteries were in play on both 
sides, and made destructive work; a single shell from one of 
the National guns killed or wounded thirty men in a com- 
pany of thirty-seven. Here General Zook was killed. Colonel 
Cross was killed, General Sickles lost a leg, and the Confed- 
erate General Barksdale was mortally wounded and died a 
prisoner. There were repeated charges and counter-charges, 
and numerous bloody incidents ; for Sickles was constantly 
reenforced, and Lee, being under the impression that this was 
the flank of the main line, kept hammering at it till his men 
finally possessed the peach orchard, advanced their lines, as- 
sailed the left flank of Humphreys, and finally drove back 
the National line, only to find that they had forced it into its 
true position, from which they could not dislodge it by any 
direct attack, while the guns and troops that now crowned 
the two Round Tops showed any flank movement to be impos- 



444 DECISIVE BATTLES [1863 

sible. About sunset Ewell's corps assailed the Union right, 
and at heavy cost gained a portion of the works near Rock 
Creek. 

One of the most dramatic incidents of this day was a 
charge on Cemetery Hill by two Confederate brigades, led 
by an organization known as the Louisiana Tigers. It was 
made just at dusk, and the charging column immediately 
became a target for the batteries of Wiedrick, Stevens, and 
Ricketts, which fired grape and canister, each gun making 
four discharges a minute. But the Tigers had the reputa- 
tion of never having failed in a charge, and in spite of the 
frightful gaps made by the artillery and by volleys of mus- 
ketry, they kept on till they reached the guns and made a 
hand-to-hand fight for them. Friend and foe were fast ber 
coming mingled when Carroll's brigade came to the rescue 
of the guns, and the remnants of the Confederate column fled 
down the hill in the gathering darkness, hastened by a double- 
shotted fire from Ricketts's battery. Of the seventeen hun- 
dred Tigers, twelve hundred had been struck down, and that 
famous organization never was heard of again. 

While the actions of the first two days were complicated, 
that of the third was extremely simple. Lee had tried both 
flanks, and failed. He now determined to attempt piercing 
the center of Meade's line. Longstreet, wiser than his chief, 
protested, but in vain. On the other hand, Meade had held 
a council of war the night before, and in accordance with the 
vote of his corps commanders determined to stay where he 
was and fight it out. Lee's first intended movement was to 
push the success gained at the close of the second day by Ewell 
on the National right ; but Meade anticipated him, attacking 
early in the morning and driving Ewell out of his works. 
In preparation for a grand charge, Lee placed more than one 
hundred guns in position on Seminary Ridge, converging 
their fire on the left center of Meade's line, where he intended 
to send his storming column. Eighty guns (all there was 
room for) were placed in position on Cemetery Ridge to reply, 
and at one o'clock the firing began. This was one of the 
most terrific artillery duels ever witnessed. There was a 
continuous and deafening roar, which was heard forty miles 
away. The shot and shells plowed up the ground, shat- 



1863] BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 445 

tered gravestones in the cemetery and sent their fragments 
flying among the troops, exploded caissons, and dismounted 
guns. A house used for Meade's headquarters, in the rear 
of the line, was completely riddled. Many artillerists and 
horses were killed ; but the casualties among the infantry 
were not numerous, for the men lay flat upon the ground, 
taking advantage of every shelter, and waited for the more 
serious work that all knew was to follow. At the end of two 
hours General Henry J. Hunt, Meade's chief of artillery, 
ordered the firing to cease, both to cool the guns and to save 
the ammunition for use in repelling the infantry charge. 
Lee supposed that his object — which was to demoralize his 
enemy and cause him to exhaust his artillery — had been 
effected. Fourteen thousand of his best troops — including 
Pickett's division, which had not arrived in time for the pre- 
vious day's fighting — now came out of the woods, formed in 
heavy columns, and moved forward steadily to the charge. 
Instantly the National guns reopened fire, and the Confed- 
erate ranks were plowed through and through ; but the 
gaps were closed up, and the columns did not halt. There 
was a mile of open ground for them to traverse, and every 
step was taken under heavy fire. As they drew nearer, the 
batteries used grape and canister, and an infantry force posted 
in advance of the main line rose to its feet and fired volleys 
of musketry into the right flank. Now the columns began 
visibly to break up and melt away ; and the left wing of the 
force changed its direction somewhat, so that it parted from 
the right, making an interval and exposing a new flank, of 
which the National troops promptly took advantage. But 
Pickett's diminishing ranks pushed on, till they passed over 
the outer lines, fought hand-to-hand at the main line, and 
even leaped the breastworks and thought to capture the bat- 
teries. The point where they penetrated was marked by a 
clump of small trees on the edge of the hill, at that portion 
of the line held by the brigade of General Alexander S. Webb, 
who was wounded; but his men stood firm against the shock, 
and, from the eagerness of all to join in the contest, men 
rushed from every side to the point assailed, mixing up all 
commands, but making a front that no such remnant as Pick- 
ett's could break. General Lewis A. Armistead, who led the 



446 DECISIVE BATTLES [1863 

charge and leaped over the wall, was shot down as he laid 
his hand on a gun, and his surviving soldiers surrendered 
themselves. On the slope of the hill many of the assailants 
had thrown themselves upon the ground and held up their 
hands for quarter; and an immediate sally from the National 
lines brought in a large number of prisoners and battle-flags. 
Of that magnificent column which had been launched out so 
proudly, only a broken fragment ever returned. Nearly 
every officer in it, except Pickett, had been either killed or 
wounded. Armistead, a prisoner and dying, said to an officer 
who was bending over him, "Tell Hancock I have wronged 
him and have wronged my country." He had been opposed 
to secession, but the pressure of his friends and relatives had 
at length forced him into the service. Hancock had been 
wounded and borne from the field, and among the other 
wounded on the National side were Generals Doubleday, 
Gibbon, Warren, Butterfield, Stannard, Barnes, and Brooke. 
General Farnsworth was killed, and General Gabriel R. Paul 
lost both eyes. Among the killed on the Confederate side, 
besides those already mentioned, were Generals Garnett, 
Pender, and Semmes; and among the wounded. Generals 
Hampton, Jenkins, Kemper, Scales, J. M. Jones, and G. T. 
Anderson. 

While this movement was in progress, Kilpatrick with his 
cavalry rode round the mountain and attempted to pass the 
Confederate right and capture the trains, while Stuart with 
his cavalry made a simultaneous attempt on the National 
right. Each had a bloody fight, but neither was successful. 
This closed the battle. Hancock urged that a great return 
charge should be made immediately with Sedgwick's corps, 
which had not participated, and Lee expected such a move- 
ment as a matter of course. But it was not done. 

That night Lee made preparations for retreat, and the 
next day — which was the 4th of July — the retreat was 
begun. General Imboden, who conducted the trains and the 
ambulances, describes it as one of the most pitiful and heart- 
rending scenes ever witnessed. A heavy storm had come up, 
the roads were in bad condition, few of the wounded had been 
properly cared for, and as they were jolted along in agony 
they were groaning, cursing, babbling of their homes, and 



1863] BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 447 

calling upon their friends to kill them and put them out of 
misery. But there could be no halt, for the Potomac was 
rising, and an attack was hourly expected from the enemy in 
the rear. 

Meade, however, did not pursue for several days, and then 
to no purpose, so that Lee's crippled army escaped into 
Virginia ; but it was disabled from ever doing anything more 
than prolonging the contest. Gettysburg was essentially the 
Waterloo of the war, and there is a striking parallel in the 
losses. The numbers engaged were very nearly the same in 
the one battle as in the other. At Waterloo the victors lost 
twenty-three thousand, one hundred and eighty-five men, 
and the vanquished, in round numbers, thirty thousand. At 
Gettysburg the National loss was twenty-three thousand, one 
hundred and ninety — killed, wounded, and missing. The 
Confederate losses were never officially reported, but esti- 
mates place them at nearly thirty thousand. Lee left seven 
thousand of his wounded among the unburied dead, and 
twenty-seven thousand muskets were picked up on the field. 
That little umbrella-shaped clump of trees in the center of 
the National line, toward which Pickett's charge was directed, 
is pointed out as the spot where the rebelhon touched high- 
water mark. When Lee's shattered army crawled back into 
Virginia, it was certain that, however it might be strength- 
ened by weakening the Confederate defenses at other points, 
and by taking in what little material for soldiers could still 
be gleaned after the rigid conscription laws, it would invade 
no more. As it was in a country full of natural lines of 
defense, which had been strengthened with elaborate fortifi- 
cations, and with which it had become thoroughly familiar, it 
was still possible for it to maintain a sturdy defensive atti- 
tude ; but its destruction was only a question of time. 

The most important military operations at the West were 
those directed against Vicksburg on the Mississippi. At this 
point the line of transportation by which the Confederates 
drew their supplies from Texas and northern Louisiana crossed 
the great river, and this and Port Hudson were the last places 
on the stream that remained under their control. Its high 
bluffs were crowned with guns that could throw a plunging 
fire upon any vessel that attempted to pass, and its rear was 



448 DECISIVE BATTLES [1863 

heavily fortified as well. After Grant had found it impreg- 
nable from the north, he boldly transported his army across 
the Mississippi, marched to Grand Gulf, about thirty miles 
below the city, crossed to the eastern bank, and then marched 
northeast to Raymond and Jackson, and thence westward to 
Vicksburg, driving before him the Confederate army under 
Pemberton. There were battles at Raymond, Jackson, Cham- 
pion's Hill, and the crossing of the Big Black, in all of which 
the Confederates were defeated, and they were then shut up 
in the city, which Grant closely beleaguered. On the forty- 
seventh day of the siege (July 4, 1863), the place was sur- 
rendered unconditionally, with its entire garrison of thirty- 
one thousand, six hundred men. Five days later, Port 
Hudson, besieged by a force of twelve thousand men under 
General Banks and the fleet under Farragut, was also sur- 
rendered. 

Gettysburg on the first three days of July, and Vicksburg 
on the 4th, formed one great and overwhelming victory. Its 
importance was at once recognized on the other side of the 
Atlantic, where it destroyed the last chance of interference 
by any European power, and put an end to the market for 
Confederate bonds. The doom of what Mr. Gladstone had 
hastened to eulogize as " a nation created in a day " was now 
sealed, and it only remained for the citizens to reelect Presi- 
dent Lincoln, thus shutting off all prospect of relief through 
political means, and for the National armies to hammer away 
till the final catastrophe should overtake the institution of 
slavery and its valorous but misguided defenders. The the- 
ory of State sovereignty went down with it, while the princi- 
ple of State rights under the Constitution remained intact, as 
all would have it, and probably will remain forever. 

R.J. 

1 Note. — Various figures and estimates are given as representing the 
strength of the two armies, some of which take account of detachments 
absent on special duty, and some do not. The figures here given denote 
very nearly the forces actually available for the battle. 



1870] BATTLE OF SEDAN 449 



CHAPTER XVII 

The Battle of Sedan, 1870 

THE principles of the French Revolution, in so far as 
they were imposed on Europe by the Napoleonic con- 
quests, were not lost by the overthrow of the Empire. 
The personal rule of kings, hereditary aristocracy as a gov- 
erning caste, the power of the Roman Curia as an arbiter 
between nations, and the feudal organization of society, were 
doomed to extinction, where they had not already passed 
away. The idea of popular sovereignty, of the control of 
the whole people over the acts of government through the 
choice of legislators and a responsible executive, the system 
embodied in the Constitution of the United States, was still 
the ideal of Europe, though from the lassitude that follows 
revolution a reaction set in that was deadening and stupefy- 
ing in proportion to the exciting whirl of the revolutionary 
epoch that it succeeded. The rapidly growing manufactur- 
ing class and the men of commerce and the professions had 
long been a power in England, and on the Continent the third 
estate, having raised its head, was not to be again reduced to 
subjection ; nor did the statesmen who readjusted European 
politics expect to undo the work of the Revolution, but only 
to check the continued growth of democracy and effect com- 
promises between the old and the new. Talleyrand was him- 
self a child of the Revolution. Alexander I., in founding the 
Holy Alliance, dreamed of imparting liberty and power to 
the peoples, and began by granting a constitution to Poland. 
The immediate care of the statesmen who took charge of 
the destinies of Europe after the exile of Napoleon to Elba 
and, subsequently to Waterloo, to St. Helena, was to crush 
his party and to extirpate his influence in all countries ; to 
turn his brothers and his marshals out of the thrones which 
they filled ingloriously as representatives of his incongruous 



450 DECISIVE BATTLES [1870 

and foolish ambition to found a dynasty and as satraps of his 
military empire. Metternich, Talleyrand, Nesselrode, Harden- 
berg, and Castlereagh, while haggling as diplomatists for the 
gain of their respective governments, rearranged the map of 
Europe in accordance with what they called the principle of 
legitimacy, which was not a principle, but simply a diplo- 
matic formula, a fiction, like the later concert of Europe. 
Napoleon's creatures were driven from their thrones, his 
allies among the legitimate sovereigns had their frontiers 
reduced and their power curtailed, and reigning families that 
he had dethroned were restored to sovereignty, to live as 
best they could with their people and accommodate them- 
selves to the new order of things. The old boundaries, the 
old commonwealths, were not and could not be restored. 
Not the sovereigns, but an Areopagus of politicians, disposed 
of their fortunes ; and if they afterwards sought to revive the 
divine right of kings, the political power of the Church and 
the feudal nobility, the idea of theocracy, or the principles of 
absolutism, they invited their fate. The Bourbons who could 
not forget the old nor learn the new order were again cast 
from their thrones, and some of the politicians who had 
restored them had a hand also in the readjustment of power. 
In the rearrangement of boundaries that followed the 
downfall of the French empire, England and Prussia, the 
nations that had finally won the victory over the military 
dictator of Europe, were rewarded with accessions of power 
and dominion commensurate with the military strength they 
had developed. Russia obtained a more powerful voice in 
the councils of Europe. Austria, no longer at the head of 
the Holy Roman empire, was erected into a new and power- 
ful military empire. Spain sank to the position of a second- 
rate power. Holland was stripped of a great part of her 
ultra-marine possessions, which went to enrich Great Britain, 
now established by her naval power, by her coal and her 
iron, by her mercantile enterprise and manufacturing indus- 
try, as the leading commercial nation. The repartition of 
Europe was as arbitrary, as artificial, as revolutionary, as the 
empire of Napoleon Bonaparte. Austria took Lombardy and 
Venetia. Poland went to Russia. Saxony was curtailed to 
enlarge Prussia, and the latter, giving up a great part of her 



1870] BATTLE OF SEDAN 45 1 

Slavonic possessions to obtain weight and aggrandizement as 
a German state, took the Rhenish provinces bordering upon 
France, a change pregnant of events. 

One outcome of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic 
era was the organized, secular civil state — a political Roman 
and Greek Renaissance that philosophers of various countries 
had been preparing for centuries. Individual liberty and 
equality before the law were ideals held in view, though in 
reality the order controlling industrial and commercial capital 
molded the laws in their class interest; yet, while petty re- 
strictions or personal liberty were abolished, the sphere of law 
was really enlarged, the system of government, of impersonal 
government, was consolidated, the subordination of the indi- 
vidual to the state became something like that in ancient 
Athens and Rome. The central state thus evolved was 
based on the idea of a social compact. Ethnic unity, a com- 
mon language, uniform legal and social institutions, religious 
conformity, national history — all were disregarded in the new 
territorial divisions, founded partly on the dynastic conquests 
and inheritances of the anterevolutionary age, partly on the 
Napoleonic distribution, and chiefly on the greed and jealousy 
of Napoleon's conquerors. But the consolidated power of the 
central government and the development of parliamentary 
rule tended to knit the people of each state together. 

In its oscillation between the old regime and the modern 
state, the pendulum swung back again about 1830. France, 
still the originator of political movements, the mother of ideas, 
in that year cast out the impracticable Bourbons of the old 
line, and adopted the constitutional monarchy under Louis 
Philippe, the bourgeois king. The expulsion of Charles X. 
from France was followed by insurrections in Italy, Poland, 
and Belgium, and a movement for popular government in 
Northern Germany. These phenomena were inspired by the 
desire for constitutional liberty, for popular rights ; but joined 
with this was a new principle — the budding spirit of national- 
ism. In all the succeeding period of repression and stagnation, 
when the Russian autocracy, which had joined the family of 
European nations bringing offerings to liberty, afterwards 
sought to conform them to its own rigid system of despotism, 
when Metternich imposed his despotic methods and upheld the 



I 



452 DECISIVE BATTLES [1870 

principle of absolutism through the length and breadth of Ger- 
many as well as in Italy, these two ideas of constitutional 
liberty and national unity were indissolubly linked. Every 
patriot — German, Italian, Pole, Magyar, or Czech — who 
pleaded or strove for the restoration of national life and inde- 
pendence was a lover of popular self-government and indi- 
vidual liberty, and as such was treated as an enemy and a 
disturber by the Prussian government not less than by the 
xuling powers in Austria and Russia. 

The introduction of constitutionalism in France, modeled 
after parliamentary government as long established in Eng- 
land, secured the ascendency of the third estate in that 
country ; but in the military and bureaucratic monarchies 
of Central Europe, where industrial development was less 
advanced and the feudal aristocracy had not lost its wealth 
or its privileges, the struggle of the rising bourgeoisie for 
representative institutions was long and severe. In 1848 the 
democratic revolution in Paris gave the signal for the towns- 
people of Berlin, Vienna, and other capitals, and that year wit- 
nessed the beginning of parliamentary life in many countries. 

The treacherous usurpation of Napoleon III. in France was 
a symptom of the reaction that extended throughout Europe. 
The emergent plutocracy joined forces with the powers of 
monarchy, aristocracy, and ecclesiasticism to dam back the 
tide of democracy. The growth and improvement, the 
machinery of government, the organizing mission of the mod- 
ern state in education, social conditions, agricultural and 
industrial production, the adaptation of the public powers to 
the needs and uses of the people, went on, while the onward 
wave of liberalism swept the nations towards their goal of 
popular liberty, and went on, too, when the refluent wave of 
conservative reaction swamped their immediate hopes and 
paralyzed their energies. 

There were latterly on the Continent of Europe two main 
centers of historical evolution, two sources of political thought 
— France and Germany. The chief aim of the French peo- 
ple was the democratic republic, of which they had been 
twice balked. The German people aspired to become a united 
nation with free institutions. The desire for National unity 
jn Germany, first awakened in the war against Bonaparte, was 



1870] BATTLE OF SEDAN 453 

always coupled with the demand for constitutional government, 
which was promised by the princes in the act of confedera- 
tion. While the National Assembly was sitting in Frankfort 
in 1848, the first hostilities with Denmark over the Duchies 
of Schleswig and Holstein began, and this brought Prussia 
more to the front ; but the democratic protagonists of National 
unity opposed the leadership of Prussia, especially after the 
overthrow of absolutism in Austria and the triumph of the 
reaction in Prussia. The union of Lombardy with Italy as 
the result of the war of 1859 gave a fresh impetus to the 
movement for a united Germany. By keeping the confedera- 
tion from going to war with France as Austria's ally, Prussia 
had gained a decided lead over the latter in the race for the 
leadership in Germany. Bismarck raised the question of 
Schleswig-Holstein again, declaring that only by blood and 
iron, not by speeches and majorities, could the question of 
German unity be settled. Austria was drawn into the war 
with Denmark that ended in the cession of the Duchies in 
1864, and then came the inevitable struggle between Prussia 
and Austria for supremacy in Germany. Prussian strategy 
won the victory, and Prussia gained the Duchies, absorbed 
Hanover, Hesse-Cassel, Nassau, and Frankfort, and thrust 
Austria out of Germany altogether. 

Napoleon III., though he declared that the empire was 
embodied peace, must perforce revive the Napoleonic legend, 
inflame the seething, embittered, divided French people with 
visions of martial glory and national greatness, and attack 
the great powers one after the other — Russia in the Crimea, 
and Austria in Lombardy. The conflict with Prussia was 
more serious, more inevitable. On the one side was a tyrant 
who had antagonized the best forces of his people, his throne 
already trembling, compelled to test his boasted military 
strength, his chief and only remaining claim as a ruler, against 
the rising warlike power on his frontier. On the other was 
a great people, rapidly surmounting the secular difficulties 
that stood in the way of union, already represented by one 
of the great military powers of Europe, whose military spirit 
and system had spread among the lesser states, now suddenly 
confronted by the power that had spoiled and humiliated 
them before and roused the thirst for vengeance that inspired 



454 DECISIVE BATTLES [1870 

the first breath of German patriotism — this hereditary enemy 
now threatening to avenge Waterloo, to crush and humble 
them afresh ! This was the opportunity of which their poets 
had dreamed. They would sweep away the petty barriers, 
the jealousies of princes ; they would present a solid front 
to the arrogant foe ; they would merge gloriously into a 
united nation by avenging Austerlitz and Jena. Louis Napo- 
leon did not at first expect to fight against united Germany. 
He was a subtle diplomatist, a crafty statesman, one who 
could have sat worthily at the table of the Congress of Vienna, 
where the peoples of Europe were bartered and exchanged ; 
but he could not understand the will and force of the 
peoples, the German no better than his own. There was the 
vigorous, aggressive, expanding young power that had sprung 
up on the border of Germany and the Slav countries, not a 
nation, not homogeneous in race, language, or religion, but 
already a highly organized state like France, rivaling her now 
in military resources, swallowing up the small states of Ger- 
many, and firmly posted on the Rhine. A war between 
France and Prussia seemed inevitable, so Napoleon craftily 
chose the time to strike when Prussia had excited the keenest 
jealousy on the part of the stronger German states. If he 
had been victorious over Russia, with England for his ally, 
and, in alliance with Piedmont, over Austria, he would not 
lack allies against this upstart power. Prussia herself con- 
tained discordant elements. There were the Rhenish lands 
and cities, still regretting the rule of the elder Napoleon, and 
in the heart of the Prussian dominion Hanover and Bruns- 
wick writhing in the iron grasp of an alien ruler, and other 
principalities and free cities reft of their liberties or threat- 
ened, while the Danes of Schleswig and the Poles were filled 
with bitter resentment. The Hapsburg monarch might be 
expected to wish to wipe out the stain of Koniggratz and the 
ignominious exclusion of his dominions from Germany, over 
which his ancestors had presided with the proudest title in 
Christendom. Prussia had wilfully split up Germany, draw- 
ing a line between the north and the south, between the 
Protestant and the Catholic parts, as though madly bent on 
weakening the national spirit and giving France an opportu- 
nity to check her career of conquest and absorption. It was 



1870] BATTLE OF SEDAN 455 

on this that the French emperor built strong hopes. He saw 
a North German Confederation in the place of the old German 
Confederation, and believed that France, chief of Catholic 
powers, the acknowledged protector of the Church, would 
have Bavaria, Wiirtemberg, and Baden on her side in a war 
with Prussia, if not as active allies, at least as benevolent 
onlookers. When he knew of the military alliance between 
these states and the North German Confederation, he still 
believed that he could cope with Prussia, if not by means of 
his own military strength alone, then by drawing Austria and 
Italy into an alliance if he could gain some successes at the 
start, relying on the usual brilliant initiative and dashing 
energy of French arms to sustain their world-wide prestige. 

The French army was reported to be archipret ; not a 
gaiter lacked a button. Ready .-' It was thrice ready, de- 
clared Marshal Lebceuf, the minister of war. The ques- 
tion of the Spanish succession was the pretext for declaring 
war against Prussia. The Spanish political generals had 
decided to present to the Cortes the name of a mediatized 
German prince, who was a kinsman of the Prussian king. 
Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, as their candi- 
date for the vacant Spanish throne. The interests and the 
honor of France were declared to be imperiled by his candi- 
dature, and when, through the mediation of England, Prince 
Leopold withdrew his name, still some satisfaction was due 
from the king of Prussia, who, as head of the family, had 
given his consent. He should send a letter of apology to 
the Emperor Napoleon and, at all events, lay his royal com- 
mand upon Prince Leopold not to resume his candidature at 
any future time. Count Bismarck intimated that France 
owed reparation to the wounded feelings of Germany and, 
if confidence was to be restored, must give a guarantee 
against a repetition of such attacks on her tranquillity. 
While the British government was endeavoring to prevent a 
rupture, M. Benedetti, French ambassador to Prussia, 
sought out King William at Ems, and requested that he 
give a distinct assurance that he would never again give his 
consent to the candidature of the Hohenzollern prince if it 
should be revived. The French minister urged the point 
repeatedly, and later in the day sought another audience, 



456 DECISIVE BATTLES [1870 

but was informed that the king could give no other answer 
than the one he had already given, and that henceforth 
negotiations must proceed regularly through his ministers. 
On the following day, after M. Benedetti had taken informal 
leave of the king, the Berlin newspapers published a para- 
graph announcing that after the renunciation of Prince 
Leopold had been officially communicated to the French 
government the French ambassador had further demanded 
certain engagements of the king, and that " His Majesty 
thereupon declined to receive the French ambassador again, 
and had told him, by the adjutant in attendance, that His 
Majesty had nothing further to communicate to the ambas- 
sador." This communication to the press was declared to be 
ground for war by the Due de Grammont, Napoleon's minister 
of foreign affairs, who told Lord Lyons, the English am- 
bassador to France, that the Prussian government, by declar- 
ing to the public that the king had affronted the French 
ambassador, had deliberately insulted France, and by the 
French prime minister, Emile Ollivier, who announced in 
the Corps L6gislatif that the government had called out the 
reserves and was prepared to maintain the proffered war and 
guard the interest, the security, and the honor of France. 
Napoleon HI. and his ministers, though but ill-informed of 
the military resources of Germany, — for their successors 
found the confidential communications of the military attach^ 
at Berlin, long afterwards, reposing in the archives of the war- 
office with seals unbroken, — yet knew Prussia's army to be as 
formidable as the French and greatly superior in numbers. 
They did not count, however, on the unanimity, the ardor, 
the active patriotism in Germany, that would bring the whole 
army of all the German states at once into the field. The 
emperor knew that Prussia could call out within a short time 
900,000 men, and could expect 200,000 more from the South 
German states, while his own total force was 600,000, of 
which he counted on only the half, 300,000 men, as effective. 
He made a deduction of a full half, too, from the nominal 
German fighting force, which left 550,000 men to confront 
his 300,000. To compensate for his numerical inferiority, 
his plan required him to cross the Rhine by a rapid move- 
ment and separate South Germany from the North German 



1870] BATTLE OF SEDAN 457 

Confederation, securing, perhaps, the inaction of the South 
German forces and probably attracting, by the ^clat of early 
victories, Austria and Italy as allies. His plan, which he 
worked out with the aid of Marshal MacMahon and confided 
to Marshal Leboeuf, was to mass ioo,ocx) men at Strasburg, 
and 1 50,000 at Metz, and hold 50,000 in reserve in the camp 
at Chalons ; unite the two armies, whose concentration on the 
Rhine and the Saar, respectively, would give no indication to 
the enemy whether he intended to break into Baden or into 
the Rhine provinces; cross the Rhine at Maxau, midway 
between the fortresses of Germersheim and Rastatt, and, 
having forced the South German states to observe neutrality, 
hurry forward to meet the Prussian troops in detail, if 
possible, before all the formations could be brought to the 
front. Since the Prussian army was more numerous than 
the French, it was necessary to strike suddenly and unexpect- 
edly, to gain an early success, and thus deter the wavering, 
dismay the half-hearted, and allow the dissensions and jeal- 
ousies that had never been wanting between German states 
and princes to work for France. An important feature of the 
French plan of campaign was to use the strong navy, which 
the Germans had no force to oppose, to land a force on the 
North Sea coast, and draw thither a part of the Prussian 
troops, while the army of the Rhine, 300,000 strong, under 
the immediate command of the emperor, should swiftly cross 
the Rhine below Strasburg, thus cutting off the South Ger- 
man army from the North Germans, and assail in succession 
the fortresses of the Rhine, if the main body of the Prussian 
army reached that point in time to meet the French attack. 

The announcement that the reserves were called out was 
received with great enthusiasm. Students and the Paris mob 
rushed through the boulevards shouting " A bas la Prusse ! " 
" Vive la guerre ! " "A Berlin!" As the regiments passed 
through on their way to the front, the newspapers announced 
to the world the composition and disposition of the formidable 
army spread out on a broad front from Thionville to the gap 
of Belfort, seven army corps under generals who had increased 
the renown of French arms at Magenta and Solferino, at 
Rome, in Mexico, and in Algeria. The 4th Corps, under 
General L'Admirault, was stationed at Thionville ; the 3d, 



458 DECISIVE BATTLES [1870 

under Marshal Bazaine, in the rear of this, near Metz ; the 
2d, under General Frossard, near St. Avoid; the 5th, under 
General de Failly, at Bitsche; the ist, under Marshal Mac- 
Mahon, in Strasburg; the 7th, under General Felix Douay, 
at Belfort ; the 6th, under Marshal Canrobert, in Chalons ; 
and the Imperial Guard was escorting the emperor from 
Paris to the front. 

Napoleon's whole plan failed from the start. In prepara- 
tion, organization, equipment, the French army was miserably 
deficient. The Germans had as much time to prepare as the 
French, for the declaration of war was delivered at Berlin on 
July 19, 1870, only four days after the reserves were called 
to arms. In fact, they were already prepared, their trans- 
port service thoroughly organized, all equipments and sup- 
plies ready, their officers instructed sufficiently to carry on a 
campaign up to the gates of Paris, and in the archives of the 
staff corps were pigeonholed maps of routes and terrain and 
plans for all the contingencies of an offensive or a defensive 
campaign, like the analysis of a game of chess, with more 
information regarding the French army and defenses than 
the French emperor himself could obtain. No one was more 
surprised than he at the difficulties and delays that arose to 
obstruct his plan of throwing an overwhelming force against 
the Rhine fortresses the day after war was declared. The 
railroad transport was so defective that only 40,000 men 
could get through to Strasburg at once. Of eight corps com- 
posing the attacking army, five were still on the Moselle, only 
two were in Alsace, and one only stood on the frontier when 
war was declared. General Frossard's corps at St. Avoid, 
which was ordered to remain on the defensive. The regi- 
ments had marched out of quarters insufficiently equipped 
and much under strength, and when reserves were called out 
to fill the ranks these crowded the railroad stations and 
blocked the traffic, waiting to be forwarded to their regiments 
in the labyrinth of encampments to which no one had the 
clue. When they joined their regiments at last, they found 
no arms or equipments provided for them. Corps were with- 
out artillery, divisions had no baggage, there were no ambu- 
lances, and there was a surprising and embarrassing lack of 
officers in every regiment. As magazines had not been es- 



1870] BATTLE OF SEDAN 459 

tablished beforehand, the troops looked for supplies to the 
fortresses ; but none were there, because the army was so sure 
of carrying the war at once into the enemy's country that no 
provision had been made for defense. Staff officers had been 
provided with maps of Germany, but they had none of their 
own country. The Ministry of War at Paris, overwhelmed 
with questions, complaints, and demands, could do nothing to 
unravel the hopeless tangle, and left the officers on the spot 
to solve their difficulties in their own way. 

The emperor arrived in Metz a week after war had been 
declared, to find the regiments not yet complete and the 
troops so jumbled and dislocated, so ill-equipped and dis- 
couraged, that, when he gave orders for an advance, his 
marshals told him it was impossible to move an army in 
such a condition. 

Ever since Austria was cast out into the Orient, Prussia 
had been preparing for a war with France. In that fiery 
hearth were the elements of German unity to be fused and 
smelted. The Prussian staff, with General von Moltke as 
chief, had the plans for instant mobilization of the North 
German army under constant study, and for every change 
the Ministry of War made the necessary provisions. Every 
branch of the administration throughout the country had all 
necessary information and instructions for carrying out the 
plan. The South German states entered into a complete 
alliance with Prussia, and agreed to the plan of campaign, 
though it involved danger to their armies, which were to 
march at once into the enemy's country, and danger to their 
frontiers, thus left unguarded. The order of march and plans 
for railroad and steamboat transport were worked out in the 
minutest detail for each division, the time of departure and 
arrival, halts for refreshment, and the provision of canton- 
ments, stores, and magazines at the place of destination. All 
was prearranged with the nicest precision, and when King 
William signed the order for mobilization, three days before 
he received the expected declaration of war, he knew that 
a fortnight later he would find an army of 300,000 men beyond 
the Rhine, all ready to march into France. 

Beyond the concentration on the frontier and the invasion 
of Alsace across the middle Rhine, nothing was decided upon 



46o DECISIVE BATTLES [1870 

beforehand. The maneuvers to follow were left to the deci- 
sion of the moment. The general plan of the war was to 
attack the enemy wherever found ; to keep the army in com- 
pact masses, always able to throw a superior force into the 
field ; to push on to Paris, the vital point of France, whose 
capture was expected to end the war ; and, in the advance, 
to hammer on the French right flank, so as to turn the enemy's 
forces out of the fertile southern provinces into the narrower 
region in the north. The mobilized German forces were 
divided into three independent armies : the first army, com- 
posed of 60,000 men, encamped at Wittlich under General 
von Steinmetz, forming the right wing ; the army of the 
center, 131,000 strong, under Prince Frederick Charles, as- 
sembled at Homburg and Neunkirchen, with a reserve of 
63,000 men encamped at Mayence; and the third army, 
forming the left wing, composed of two of the Prussian and 
the two Bavarian corps, with the Wurtemberg and Baden field 
divisions, gathered in the vicinity of Landau and Rastatt under 
the command of the Crown Prince Frederick. 

The disparity in numerical strength between the Prussian 
and the French armies was due to the firm, strong govern- 
ment in Prussia, which had forced the gigantic military organ- 
ization against the will of the people and in defiance of the 
votes of the Parliament. In the Bohemian campaign of 1866 
Prussia brought into the field an army of 350,000 men, one to 
every fifty-four inhabitants. Napoleon III. at the summit of 
his power could not force upon France such a system of mili- 
tary service. After Koniggratz he endeavored to increase 
the conscription so that France could send into the field one 
in seventy of the population, giving an army equal in num- 
bers to that of Prussia ; but his usually servile majority in the 
Corps Legislatif drew back under the pressure of public opin- 
ion, and voted some apparent changes that left the army 
practically what it was before. In training and discipline 
the Prussian army was as much superior to the French as it 
was in numbers, showing the same subordination to a firm 
authority that was lacking in France, founded on a faith in 
the government and its mission as the instrument in the uni- 
fication of Germany that had grown immensely stronger since 
Koniggratz and the confident assertion of Prussian headship. 



1870] BATTLE OF SEDAN 46 1 

The hasty despatch of the French troops to the field before 
they were prepared for service failed of the purpose of sur- 
prising the Germans and administering a check before they 
could form. The French commanders perceived that instead 
of attacking the enemy in his country, they would have to 
defend their own. The plan of landing a force in northern 
Prussia was already abandoned, and when the French fleet 
sailed round it was without troops. The intention of invad- 
ing South Germany was at once given up. Instead of mass- 
ing a force on the Rhine to cross near Strasburg, troops were 
despatched from Metz to the Saar, where the army of General 
von Steinmetz was concentrated at Wadern, while the German 
center rested on the Haardt Mountains, and the Crown Prince's 
army gathered rapidly on both banks of the Rhine in time to 
prevent the intended French invasion of the Black Forest 
between Strasburg and Belfort, and to support the center, 
which was being pushed forward like a wedge on the Saar. 
The French made a reconnoissance in force at Saarbriicken, 
but dared not cross the stream to cut the railroad. They 
could form no plan. They knew not where to strike, nor 
what point to defend, and between contrary resolutions and 
contradictory orders wasted time and scattered their forces, 
which were spread out from the Nied to the upper Rhine, 
compelling them eventually to divide into the separate armies 
of Marshal MacMahon and Marshal Bazaine. The attack on 
Saarbriicken was useless as a reconnoissance, for the French 
did not come within sight of the German troops, which were 
swarming in the forest a short distance beyond the frontier. 
The garrison of 2500 men withdrew after a few shots, and 
General Frossard's corps entered the town, only to retire im- 
mediately, leaving the place to be reoccupied by the Prussians 
the same afternoon. This aimless and insignificant action was 
theatrically arranged for political effect, for the people were 
growing very impatient at the inaction of the army. The 
emperor was there, and the Prince Imperial fired off the first 
mitrailleuse, receiving his " baptism of fire," according to his 
father's magniloquent despatch. These mitrailleuse guns 
were a new invention from which the French expected much ; 
nor were they disappointed, for the execution was good and 
the moral effect considerable in the early days of the campaign. 



462 DECISIVE BATTLES [1870 

The war opened in the south with a staggering and disas- 
trous defeat for the French. General MacMahon advanced 
one division to the frontier town of Weissenburg, on the 
Lauter, while with the rest of his corps he tried to keep in 
touch with General de Failly's corps. Without knowing the 
danger, he had exposed his troops so that they could be 
crushed in detail by the third German army, which poured 
suddenly out of the forest and over the Rhine while General 
de Failly was still at Bitsche and General Douay at Belfort. 
After the Crown Prince's army crossed the frontier on August 
4th and drove out the gallant defenders of Weissenburg, Gen- 
eral MacMahon endeavored to bring up his three corps and 
check the German advance by an immediate attack ; but the 
Bavarians and Prussians were in stronger force in the san- 
guinary battle of Worth, where more than io,ck)0 fell on each 
side and 9000 Frenchmen were made prisoners. Marshal 
MacMahon handled his admirable corps with the utmost skill ; 
but, owing to the general unreadiness and initial disorganiza- 
tion of the French military system, it received no support, 
was outnumbered and outflanked, and therefore was broken 
and routed, retreating far back to Luneville. 

The body politic was disordered, and the nearer to the cen- 
tral power the more apparent the disorganization. In the 
north Napoleon was in supreme command. General Fros- 
sard, prudently retiring from Saarbriicken, took up a strong 
position on the Speichern hills, where the Germans blunder- 
ingly attacked him. Four other French corps were encamped 
within sound of the guns, including the emperor's own guards, 
and yet such was the lack of decision and concord among the 
French generals that they formed no line of battle to arrest 
the German advance, nor even sent a single division to Fros- 
sard's support, allowing the enemy gradually to bring up force 
enough to shell and storm the heights. 

Thus on August 6th, the second day from the opening of 
active hostilities, the Germans won signal victories on both 
wings, and the French army was split in two. A retreat was 
decided upon, was necessary. Should the enemy be left in 
possession of the eastern provinces, and the army fall back to 
Chalons to reorganize .-' That was the first strategic decision, 
and then thoughts of the ungovernable fury of the French 



1870] BATTLE OF SEDAN 463 

people and the danger to the dynasty caused further irreso- 
lution, the countermanding of orders, aimless movements of 
troops hither and thither. The diminished French field army 
was still 200,000 strong. Protected by the forts of Metz, it 
might contest the crossing of the Moselle or m.ight fall back 
on the stronger position of Verdun. 

The Germans, not knowing the extent of the French de- 
moralization, did not rush across the Vosges to overtake the 
French in full retreat, but, wheeling their three armies into 
line, advanced cautiously, covering a solid front of twelve 
miles. They came within touch of Metz before the French 
had completed their dispositions, and, finding them apparently 
in retreat beyond the Moselle, precipitated themselves upon 
the outworks of Metz. At Colombey and Nouilly, on August 
14th, they lost 5000 men, the French but two thirds as many ; 
at Vionville and Mars-le-Tour they won a dear victory. They 
then pushed a part of their forces over the Moselle to cut off 
the line of retreat to Verdun. The emperor, who felt ag- 
grieved because he was being made responsible for the 
wretched situation of the army, gave over the command to 
Marshal Bazaine, and departed for Chalons. Bazaine, on his 
own responsibility, ordered the retreat that the emperor dared 
not make because it would be abandoning Lorraine ; but four 
precious days had been lost. When the columns moved down 
the road they found it occupied by the troops of Prince Fred- 
erick Charles. The French proved how they could fight in 
the general engagement of Gravelotte, which the arrival of 
fresh forces and the heroic capture of St. Privat turned to 
the advantage of the Germans, with the result that Bazaine 
with 175,000 men was blockaded in Metz and kept there by 
only 150,000 German troops under Prince Frederick Charles, 
who was able after the siege-works were completed, to draw 
off three quarters of this force when necessary. The inferi- 
ority of their artillery was one of the serious disadvantages 
under which the French labored. Napoleon had failed to 
keep track of the great improvements in range and weight of 
fire made in the Prussian guns since the Austrian war. The 
French infantry weapon, on the other hand, the Chassepot 
rifle, was superior to the needle-gun, having a quicker breech 
action, longer range, a flatter trajectory, and more deadly 



464 DECISIVE BATTLES [1870 

execution. But the Prussian soldiers more than made up for 
the deficiency by their perfect infantry drill, making use of 
every cover, throwing up protecting mounds, and firing with 
steady aim and deliberate judgment. The French cavalry 
performed desperate deeds of valor in action, riding to cer- 
tain death in the vain endeavor to save battles already lost, or 
in covering the retreat of shattered battalions ; but for obser- 
vation purposes it was useless, for the Germans spread their 
cavalry out like a fan in front of their advancing columns, so 
that it formed an impenetrable screen for every movement, 
while their mounted scouts ranged over the whole country, 
keeping their commanders informed at all times of the posi- 
tion and movements of the enemy. 

At Chalons Marshal MacMahon reformed the remainder 
of the French field forces. Against them the army of the 
Crown Prince and the newly constituted German army of 
the Meuse, together 223,000 strong, advanced rapidly to the 
Meuse, threatening Paris as well as the French right flank. 
If Bazaine would come on to Verdun, the French could meet 
the Germans with nearly equal forces. Marshal MacMahon, 
suspecting the critical position at Metz, but not knowing that 
Bazaine's communications were actually severed, when the 
enemy appeared on his own flank, determined to take a posi- 
tion at Rheims, whence he might either form a junction with 
the army of the Rhine or, if necessary, fall back on Paris, 
where under the protection of the fortifications he could risk 
a battle, notwithstanding his numerical inferiority. Cut off 
from Rheims by the Crown Prince's forces, he decided to 
retreat to Paris at once, and then changed his mind on receiv- 
ing despatches from Metz indicating that Marshal Bazaine 
intended to fight his way to Chalons or Sedan. Unwilling 
to desert his comrades, he moved round the Germans on the 
northeast, while they advanced in a direct line westward, and 
thus himself carried out General von Moltke's plan, which 
was to force the French northward, off the direct route to 
Paris. That the French commander should abandon his 
communications with the capital, leave the Paris route in the 
hands of the enemy, and make a long detour by the way of 
the Belgian frontier in order to succor Marshal Bazaine at 
Metz at first seemed impossible to the Germans, and when 



1870] BATTLE OF SEDAN 465 

their cavalry came upon the French in the north, they 
changed their Hne of march but sHghtly, so that the Meuse 
army might hold the French in check on the Meuse in con- 
junction with the reserves of the army besieging Metz, where 
Bazaine, lacking food supplies and ammunition, was in a 
helpless condition. The speeches of French deputies raging 
against a French general who would leave his comrade in 
the lurch, followed by newspaper reports that MacMahon 
had resolved to hasten to Bazaine's assistance, though the 
abandonment of the Paris road placed the country in danger, 
almost convinced them that here again, as in Bazaine's stand 
at Metz, politics, not strategy, would govern. They com- 
pleted their dispositions accordingly, moving up the newly 
formed fourth army, commanded by the Crown Prince of 
Saxony, to hold him until the Crown Prince of Prussia could 
bring up the third army by forced marches in time to sweep 
round upon his right flank and hem him in against the 
'Belgian frontier. 

MacMahon continued his eastward march until he learned 
that the army of the Rhine was still in Metz. At the same 
time he became aware of the two German armies moving up 
on his flank, and he decided to save his own army by retreat. 
But the next day he received peremptory instructions from 
the empress and Council of Ministers in Paris to push on to 
the relief of Metz, lest a revolution break out. The emperor 
was with Marshal MacMahon, and he knew the peril to be 
incurred by continuing the march, the almost certain destruc- 
tion of the army ; yet he abstained from exercising any 
authority over his general, believing the empire doomed in 
any event. He had resolved, he afterwards said, "to submit 
to the consequences of the fatality that attended all the reso- 
lutions of the government." Once more allowing his military 
convictions to give way to the political exigency, MacMahon 
countermanded his orders, and attempted to reach Montmedy 
by Stenay. Finding the Prussians at Stenay, he endeavored 
to cross the river Meuse at Mouzon, where the left wing was 
checked on August 30th, while the Bavarians of the Crown 
Prince's army fell upon the right wing and crumpled up 
General de Failly's corps. Marshal MacMahon determined 
to concentrate on Sedan and accept battle under the protec- 



466 DECISIVE BATTLES [1870 

tion of the fortress, although the Emperor Napoleon pro- 
posed flight into Belgium. The French army of nearly 
100,000 combatants was drawn up for battle, its rear resting 
on the fortress, its flanks sheltered by the Meuse and the 
Givonne and Floing valleys, woods and ridges beyond pro- 
tecting the line of retreat, either into Belgian territory or 
towards the fortified position of Mezieres. The German gen- 
erals had time to arrange their forces for the most scientific 
battle of the war. They had 250,000 men and a great pre- 
ponderance of guns, and, throwing their lines entirely about 
the position, the converging fire of the batteries became more 
destructive as the outworks were carried and the encircling 
arc was drawn closer, first a semicircle, then the ends incurv- 
ing to form a complete circle of fire around the town. So 
also was the crushing mass of assailants more irresistible as 
the line coiled closer round the doomed army. 

The Bavarian troops, the ones that struck the first blow in 
the war, were destined to bear a prominent part in the deci- 
sive engagement. General von der Tann, before dawn on 
September ist, sent a force to take the town of Bazeilles, the 
most exposed part of the French position. The French 
defended every house, aided by the citizens, and the obstinate 
and murderous combat lasted many hours with varying suc- 
cess, while reenforcements were sent in from both sides. At 
length the Bavarians gained the most commanding position 
and brought up their guns. Then they aided the Saxon 
troops to capture the eastern slope of the Givonne, and there 
also a battery was planted. In the fight for La Moncelle, 
leading to this position. Marshal MacMahon was wounded 
by a fragment of a shell. General Ducrot, whom he named 
his successor in command, gave orders for a retreat through 
Illy to Mezieres. But General Wimpffen, recently arrived 
from Algiers, brought secret instructions to assume command 
in case the marshal was disabled. Deeming a retreat to 
Mezieres impossible, because the Crown Prince's army was 
posted at Donchery, ready to fall on the flank of the French 
army if such a movement were attempted, he asserted his 
authority from the Ministry of War, to which General Ducrot 
willingly submitted, and gave orders to attempt the opposite 
maneuver of an advance to Carignan, hoping to cut his way 



i87o] BATTLE OF SEDAN 467 

through the Bavarians and Saxons and effect a junction with 
Marshal Bazaine. The Emperor Napoleon, who had arrived 
at Sedan simultaneously with the army, disapproved the haz- 
ardous attempt and was already disposed to capitulate. 

The first onset on the German advanced guard met with a 
momentary success. A fierce attack of Zouaves caused the 
Saxons on the right to waver, and tirailleurs with their long- 
ranged Chassepots compelled the batteries to retire from the 
banks of the Givonne. Then fresh Bavarian and Saxon 
brigades came up, and then the Prussian guards appeared, 
followed by another corps. The attempt to force a passage 
through to Carignan had failed, while the line of retreat to 
Mezieres was blocked now by two Prussian corps, which 
extended their line round by Illy, cutting off retreat into Bel- 
gium. The French were thus hemmed in on all sides. Gen- 
eral Gallifet's lancers and chasseurs d'Afrigue charged upon 
the first Prussian cavalry that emerged at Illy, only to rush 
into the terrific fire of infantry hidden by the woods and 
shrapnel from batteries suddenly unmasked. 

An artillery park composed of the batteries of two army 
corps was ranged along the hillside south of St. Menges, 
while strong columns of infantry advanced upon Fleigneux. 
The Bavarian corps guarded the left bank of the Meuse, 
while five corps d'arm^e were drawn up on the right bank for 
a concentric attack. The Prussian artillery drove the French 
batteries from place to place and silenced many of them. 
Later the batteries of the Meuse army and those of the Prus- 
sian guards, which took position on the slope of the Givonne, 
destroyed the last of the French batteries. The French 
troops in the Givonne valley were subjected to a fire from 
both sides. Their main body was hidden in the wood of 
Garenne, under cover of the fortress. When the Germans 
assailed the heights of Illy, General Wimpffen first thought 
that an attack from the north could be nothing but a feint. 
But quickly he saw the necessity of sending assistance in 
that direction, and soon had to despatch a division towards 
Bazelles to rescue the 12th Corps, which was falling back in 
disorderly flight to Sedan. These marches and counter- 
marches were executed under fire of the German artillery on 
both sides. When the division of General Liebert, holding 



4^8 DECISIVE BATTLES [1870 

the hills north of Casal, attacked on both flanks and shelled 
at the same time, at last gave way, the French cavalry issued 
from the wood in repeated charges past the batteries and 
through the infantry, until half of them were shot down. 
The heights at Casal were taken, then those west of the 
Givonne, the German batteries were erected there, and by 
three o'clock in the afternoon they were pouring shell into the 
Bois de Garenne and into the city from both banks of the 
Meuse. When the German infantry entered the Bois de 
Garenne, they found it thronged with broken corps and strag- 
glers of all arms. Some offered a fierce resistance, others sur- 
rendered by thousands. Round the walls of the fortress and 
inside were bodies of troops among whom German shells were 
bursting, and the city was in flames, when a flag of truce was 
displayed, just as the Bavarians were about to escalade the 
gates. First came a letter from the Emperor Napoleon to 
King William. Not having been able to die in the midst of 
his troops, he placed his sword in his brother sovereign's hands. 
On the demand of the Germans, General Wimpffen came to 
hear from General von Moltke the terms exacted, the disarma- 
ment and detention of the entire army. The French general 
begged that his troops might be allowed to be disarmed in 
Belgium, but General von Moltke insisted on their surrender 
as prisoners of war. These hard conditions were accepted 
on the morning of September 2d, to avert a renewal of the bom- 
bardment. In most of the previous German victories they, as 
the assailants, lost more heavily than the French. At Sedan 
their artillery was so much stronger, and the French defense 
so desperately prolonged, that their casualties were only half 
those of the French, who lost 17,000 killed or wounded, 21,000 
taken in action, and 83,000 surrendered. 

Marshal Bazaine, knowing nothing of the attempt of the 
army of Chalons to come to his succor, but seeing the besieg- 
ing army greatly reduced, made a sortie from Metz; and on 
the very day of the battle of Sedan his army was repelled 
by the Prussians, though outnumbering them four to one, for 
he had no artillery. 

With the fall of Sedan the empire came to an end. The 
Republic was proclaimed in Paris on September 4th, and 
vGeneral Trochu with some of the Republicans in the Chamber 



MOLTKE AT SEDAN. 

Photogravure from a painting by A. von Werner. 



1 870] BATTLE OF SEDAN 469 

formed the Government of National Defense and called the 
entire nation to arms, proclaiming that not an inch of terri- 
tory, not a stone of the fortresses, would be given up to the 
enemy. The two armies in the field were beaten, but they 
were only the first line. The resources of France were 
scarcely tapped, if patriotism could be roused to make 
sufficient sacrifices. This was the reasoning of such civilian 
strategists as Gambetta and Freycinet, and it was the feeling 
of the whole French people. Patriotism was not wanting, 
nor sacrifice of blood and treasure and individual happiness 
to the point of heroism. Gambetta, the minister of war in 
the Provisional Government, an orator, a magnetic leader, a 
political organizer, rallied the population to the flag. He 
raised an army that in numbers greatly exceeded the German 
forces, an army of over 1,000,000. He did not know, nor 
did Freycinet, who aided him in directing this untrained 
soldiery, that the issue of the war was decided by a single 
month's operations. They prolonged the struggle for six 
months more. They brought untold hardships on France, 
subjected Paris to famine, bombardment, revolution, and the 
provinces to devastation, wasted the accumulated wealth of 
the country, crippled its productive energies, sent out with 
ruthless hardihood the undrilled battalions to test ill-digested 
plans against the sure science of German strategists, staked 
the lives of French citizens wholesale in a gambler's fever, 
entailed on Germany, too, her heaviest sacrifices, and in the 
end made harder terms for France. The French have come 
to love France the more for the sufferings she endured, and 
to love the republic that was born in such travail. The war 
d oictrance was fought almost to the bitter end, and then the 
Government of National Defense stepped aside. Thiers, as 
soon as he was elected chief of the executive by the National 
Assembly, negotiated a peace. France surrendered to Ger- 
many most of Lorraine and all Alsace except Belf ort, and 
paid an indemnity of five milliard francs. 

The severance of Alsace and Lorraine from France was 
like the lopping off of a member from the living body, 
and the annexation of these imperial provinces by Germany 
has been a source of disquietude and danger, dominating the 
whole military situation of Europe. The rapidity with which 



47° DECISIVE BATTLES [1870 

the enormous money ransom was raised in France to deliver 
the remaining provinces caused Prince Bismarck to regret 
that he had not drained France as a butcher drains the last 
drop of blood from a leg of veal. The vitality of the repub- 
lic, which the conquerors approved because it was supposed 
to be the weakest, most discordant form of government for 
France, has caused them constant anxiety. The restoration 
of the military organization of France on a basis as wide as 
the nation, on a higher scale of efficiency than has been 
known since the first empire, has led to a rivalry on the 
part of Germany, and to excessive military training and 
armament, in most of the European nations. The present 
military alliances, the triple alliance between Germany, Aus- 
tria, and Italy, followed by the defensive alliance between 
France and Russia, render more appalling the specter of a 
European war, springing from the desire of France to revenge 
Sedan and regain the lost provinces, from aggressive move- 
ments in the East, or from jealousies and complications yet 
to arise. The emulous increase of naval armaments has fol- 
lowed upon the introduction of the Prussian system of uni- 
versal liability to arms. Colonial expansion and intense 
commercial rivalry between nations have come in as new 
elements of danger, and have complicated the situation by 
involving the naval powers. Some military and political 
prophets believe the specter of a European war to be only 
a specter. The dual alliance, like the triple alliance, is pro- 
claimed to be a league of peace. A war between the military 
powers of Europe on the scale of their present armaments 
would be so destructive that no impious hand may be found 
to light the signal torch, nor can such forces be brought into 
collision at the instance of a truculent or ambitious prince or 
statesman. When nations in arms meet in the clash of war, 
both sides must suffer incalculable injury. For war like that 
there must be some deep, irreconcilable sense of harm and 
hatred, such as even the question of Alsace-Lorraine has not 
produced, or some high national ambition affecting the hap- 
piness of the whole people. Field-Marshal von Moltke, 
reflecting on the Franco-German war sixteen years after its 
termination, wrote as follows : — 

"The days are gone by when, for dynastical ends, small 



1870] BATTLE OF SEDAN 47 1 

armies of professional soldiers went to war to conquer a city 
or a province, and then sought winter quarters or made peace. 
The wars of the present day call whole nations to arms; there 
is scarcely a family that does not suffer by them. The entire 
financial resources of the state are appropriated to the pur- 
pose, and the different seasons of the year have no bearing 
on the unceasing progress of hostilities. As long as nations 
continue independent of each other, there will be disagree- 
ments that can only be settled by arms ; but, in the interest 
of humanity, it is to be hoped that wars will become less 
frequent, as they have become more terrible." 

The battle of Sedan, from which dates the birth of the 
German empire as well as the death of Imperialism in 
France, marks the triumph of the principle of nationalism 
in Europe. Nations had been formed before Germany united 
— Greece, Servia, Roumania, Hungary, Italy. Since then 
Bulgaria has been created. Greeks, Bulgarians, Servians, 
Roumanians, Italians, are still yearning for unredeemed terri- 
tories peopled by their brothers ; Irish, Czechs, and Nor- 
wegians are clamoring for fuller opportunities of national 
development, larger rights of self-government, while the 
stifled cry of suffering Poland grows fainter. Croats, Flem- 
ings, and other races are beginning to aspire to national life. 
Which of these nationalities will win, which preserve an inde- 
pendent political existence, prophets may tell. In contem- 
porary Europe nationalities can be strangled as they never 
could be before. But the government is now more deeply 
rooted in the nation, more nearly the chief organ of national 
life, than it' has been in the past. Governments, with their 
increased power and activity in the various departments of 
the social and industrial life of the people, are a powerful 
agency in forming and unifying nations. Race, language, 
religion, a historical past — these are not the only character- 
istics of a nation. Peoples differentiated by any or all of 
these may be patriots of a nation whose culture and ideas 
they have absorbed ; and then the powers of government can 
be used to deport populations, extirpate languages, enforce 
religious conformity, and bury history out of sight. But only 
powerful governments can deal thus with small and indistinct 
nationalities, for the organic national character of modern 



472 DECISIVE BATTLES [1870 

government impels nationalities to reject a rule alien to their 
national genius and traditional civilization. The spread of 
education and literature, the improvement of communications, 
the growth of national industries, the quick transmission of 
news and opinions — all these tend to create a conformity and 
establish a sympathy among people of the same country. 
Germans, Frenchmen, Englishmen, Russians, are more distinct 
and more bound up in their own countries and governments 
than formerly. International sympathies and movements have 
given way to patriotism and national ambitions. Germany has 
led the way in the national movement, the adaptation of gov- 
ernment to national life and the development of the national 
spirit. The treaty of Versailles and the assumption by King 
William of the title of German Emperor on the invitation of 
the princes and with the concurrence of the North German 
Reichstag only established German unity in principle. The 
unification of government and laws and the consolidation of 
the empire was a work of time, and is still going on. The 
system of government in Germany is nothing like what the 
earlier patriots pictured in their minds. Before the Franco- 
German war there was a powerful liberal party, also an 
aggressive republican party, holding out ideals drawn from 
England, France, and the United States, to whom ail things 
connected with the Prussian government were abhorrent — the 
royal prerogative and ministerial rescripts overriding parlia- 
ment, militarism, bureaucracy, irresponsible ministries, and 
indirect suffrage. After the triumph of German unity this 
noisy opposition became silent or joined with the founders of 
the empire in molding its institutions. The protection of 
the realm and the care for the welfare of the German people 
were the objects for which the German states entered into an 
eternal union. The Reichstag draws its powers from uni- 
versal suffrage. The only irreconcilable opponents of the 
government have been the social democrats. Even they 
have had an influence in obtaining legislation for the benefit 
of the working classes, and even their leaders have latterly 
accepted the monarchy and acquiesced in universal military 
service. No government has made more efforts than the 
German to promote the welfare of all classes of the people, 
and no people are conscious of more intimate connection with 



1870] BATTLE OF SEDAN 473 

and dependence on the government. The army itself is a 
strong national bond and in its way a democratic and equaliz- 
ing institution ; for rich and poor, gentle and simple, must 
serve side by side in the ranks. The only distinction is made 
in favor of and in the interest of education. The public 
educational system in Germany is an abundant source of 
national strength and cause of national pride, and it reaches 
the whole nation, all the talents and aptitudes. 

French education, social legislation, military life, all the 
institutions that cement and strengthen the national spirit, 
bear comparison with their German counterparts. The third 
French republic has lasted longer than the first empire, than 
the Restoration, than the Orleanist monarchy, than the em- 
pire of Louis Napoleon. While the enemies of former gov- 
ernments grew more numerous and threatening as time went 
on, those of the republic have lost heart and influence, and 
many of them have accepted the republic. A republican 
government seems to be suited to the French, and those who 
cavil most at the acts and personnel of the government are 
the most ardent Republicans. The French army, now more 
numerous than the German, is a national army in a sense 
unknown in the time of Napoleon III. The first Napoleon 
said that the army should be one with the nation, the nation 
one with the army. Such was his army, and no other till 
the Prussian army was created. Now there are many such 
national armies, but none more popular or willingly sup- 
ported than the French. Military service and its cost are 
heavy burdens on the people. Personal service bears harder 
on the individual than paying taxes. It shows the growth 
of national spirit since governments have become more iden- 
tified with the people, that great armies and navies, enor- 
mously increased taxation, and other burdens and restrictions 
are cheerfully borne. 

The work of carrying on government, since governmental 
functions have been multiplied and reach down into the na- 
tional life through many channels, has become a more diffi- 
cult and serious business. Trained intellectual ability is the 
qualification for office in France, Germany, Russia, and other 
countries, and the entrance is usually through the government 
schools. This opens the gate wider to the people, and forms 






474 DECISIVE BATTLES [1870 

another link between the people and the government. In all 
countries the people have generally more faith in statesmen 
than they formerly had, and the statesmen are more earnest 
and industrious in their duties and, with less arbitrary power 
and discretion, feel a greater sense of responsibility than in 
the days of Castlereagh or Metternich, or of the sycophants 
of Napoleon III. Under autocratic or democratic systems, 
the impulse of national patriotism signified by the German 
victory at Sedan has tended to enlarge and ennoble the insti- 
tutions of government. 

F. H. 



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